As a systems architect, I relish the challenges at the boundaries between these disciplines and exploring possible solutions to eliminate dead ends before they block my team. I understand systems both broadly and deeply and take a customer centric view of design to meet needs as reliably and inexpensively as possible.
My bachelors in Physics from Lawrence University (2006) has been invaluable because of the deep understanding of how electronics work from the atoms on up I gained but more critically because of the liberal arts focus on communication. I earned my Master’s in Computer and Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2007) where I worked on the intersection of robots and mesh networking in the Electrical Engineering department. Along the way I spent time working on Internet connected factory arc welding equipment (2004-2007), underwater robots (2005) and machine learning / big data process optimization for DNA sequencing (2006).
In 2008 I dove into a startup trying to make human scale telepresence robots where I got to fill a very broad set of roles, learned a lot and participated in the creation of the SF Bay Area professional robotics community that exists today. From 2011 through 2014, I was a Senior Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories, designing hard real time, FPGA based, aerospace sensor packages. While there I co-founded Robot Garden, a community based, volunteer run Makerspace in which continues to operate today.
At Anki, I defined my own systems architecture role designing the electronics and firmware architecture of Cozmo and Victor. It was constantly exciting finding new possibilities and evolving the technology for ever greater sophistication and capability.
As a Product Creation Leader at Sonos, I bridge between teams and disciplines to make sure problems are solved in the right place, people and processes aren’t blocked and we build great products.
My wife and I have 4 children and live in a smaller town in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. We are all very involved in our local 4-H club through which we do community service and STEAM education. We do as much gardening / urban farming as we can and I am always looking forward to combine my interests in agriculture, robotics and education.