On to the compulsory biography of the great me ...
I was born on June 14, 1980, which just happens to be Flag Day, in Greensboro, North Carolina. So far, my permanent residence has always been in Greensboro, though I have been away at school since 1997. I went to Greensboro Day School from kindergarden to ninth grade and Page High School for tenth grade.
For my junior and senior years, I attended the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, to which I had been planning to go since seventh grade. During both years at NCSSM, I lived in Hunt Residence Hall, first on Fourth West, then on Fourth East. While I was at NCSSM, I had the chance, among other things, to serve as the first student representative on the Academic Technology Committee, tour civil war battle sites, serve as a Peer College Counselor, do a Mentorship project with Dr. Eddie Grant, Director of the Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines at NC State, represent NCSSM at the 1998 NCSSSMST Student Conference - World in 2020, and act as a student consultant for the Conserve School in Land O'Lakes, Wisconsin. While at NCSSM, I made many great friends, many of whom are part of our shared domain, ncssm.net. I graduated from NCSSM on May 29, 1999 as part of the class of 1999.
I began college at North Carolina State University in the fall of 1999 on the John T. Caldwell Alumni Scholarship. I double majored in Electrical and Computer Engineering. I continued my work with Dr. Eddie Grant and the Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, where I pursued several research projects. I was vice chairman of the IEEE student branch at NCSU for two years. I am also a member of many honor societies. During my first two years at NCSU, I was a resident of Sullivan Hall. During my third year, I had a single in Wood Hall. I moved off-campus for my senior year. During the summer of 2000, I went abroad as part of the NCSU London Experience. In April 2001, I was selected as a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar. During the summer of 2001, I did research at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia as part of a NSF Summer Undergraduate Fellowship in Sensor Technology. During the summer of 2002, I worked at the Naval Research Laboratory in the Tactical Electronic Warfare Division. I graduated summa cum laude on May 17, 2003.
I returned to NRL for the summer of 2003 and started work on my Masters thesis research, evolving navigation controllers for unmanned aerial vehicles using multi-objective genetic programming. I returned to NCSU in August 2003 and spent the next academic year working on this research and finishing my thesis; I defended on March 19, 2004. I graduated with a Master's in Electrical Engineering in May 2004.
Along the way I did a great deal of other stuff, had lots of fun, and met many great people. And there is more life to come, so stay tuned.
