About Me

PD December 2015 head shot 14 circular

 

Where to start? I’m often asked how long I’ve taught at BU. Like many questions, there are two answers. The short answer: Nearly 20 years. The longer answer: My first course, CS331, ran in the spring of 1999 at Metropolitan College (MET). Since then I’ve taught a variety of graduate and undergraduate courses in computer science (C++ programming, operating systems, networks, OO design), administrative sciences (project management and program management) and most recently leadership studies, all at MET as an adjunct.

In the fall of 2014 I began teaching CS411 in the CS department at the College of Arts and Sciences, and picked up CS101 the following semester. In the fall of 2015 I joined the faculty at CAS/CS as a Lecturer, teaching full-time and fulfilling a life-long dream.

Teaching as an adjunct for 15 years meant that I had a ‘real’ job outside the classroom. That job took a lot of turns over the years. After leaving the US Air Force where I did primary research in materials science I ran a technical magazine (73 for Radio Amateurs) for a few years before joining Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) as a technical course developer. I’ve worked as a marketing engineer (and yes, I created that title at my company), software developer, and technical project manager. For about ten years I was a consultant here in Boston for a medium-sized firm with clients in the financial services industry (Fidelity, State Street, et al.) doing system and application architecture as well as some performance engineering. I was a director for a small tech startup, and ran a team at a local market analysis firm doing research on enterprise computing solutions for clients like HP, Oracle, and IBM. I launched and managed a small publishing company that ended up on the front page of the New York Times.

All of that to say that I’ve spent a lot of time in the trenches with my sleeves rolled up doing tech. It’s what I love, and I love teaching it. I bring a real-world perspective to my classroom and give my students a sense of what life is like after the degree is done.

What else… I’ve been an instrument-rated pilot for about 25 years; enjoy foraging for and eating wild mushrooms; launched one of the first 10,000 web sites back in 1995 (it’s still running at kidpub.com); am an advocate for electronic privacy; and am 9th cousin to President Barak Obama (not that it’s gotten me anywhere).