About me
A brief introduction on my history
Quick Links:
Outlier Detection for Mammograms
International Conference on Medical Imaging with Deep Learning, 2023
Father & Full Time Bioinformatician and Software Developer in the Medical Imaging Industry
I'm from Berkshire County, where I was born and raised. From the wonderful City of Pittsfield Massachusetts where I recently graduated with an Associate in Science degree in computer science. I recently moved to Boston to pursue a Bachelor in Science degree, at the University of Massachusetts Boston. I've always loved computers, electronics, and just learning how things work and function.
My curiosities have given me the chance to explore many avenues in life, and have granted me the opportunities to try out many things before finally settling with the Computer Sciences. Originally I started school as a fine arts major, mostly because of my previous experience with painting and drawing. At the time it made sense for me to start there, because being creative was something I was good at and was an avenue I felt I would excel at. Then, I landed a position as a computer lab assistant in the Digital Commons at Berkshire Community College. This suddenly sparked and rekindled a flame of desire deep within me. That being my early childhood passions for computers and software. In my younger days, I was always behind a keyboard and monitor, and even built my first computer when I was a teen. I can remember how much I loved upgrading hardware, installing games and software, exploring all the files and code that made programs work (when available)! It fascinated me then, and still does to this day.
So, I made the switch from art classes to computer science classes. Where now I plan to someday become a professional programmer and software developer/engineer. My goals are to eventually start using the skills I obtain to work with a team of developers who are on a mission to build a better world. I admire those who chase their dreams and I really feel using technology as a medium is one of the best ways to reach as many people as possible, making their dreams a reality. With technology the possibilities are truly endless. Like many before me, I am starting from the ground up. My success is built on the sweat and tears of my labor and hard work. My ambition and determination have carried me to this moment, to academia, and to want more for myself. I am now learning to do new and wondrous things, like designing algorithms, building websites, using machine learning, implementing my own data structures to simplify and abstract away complexity and so much more. Most importantly though, I am learning that to make the world a better place, it takes a team effort. No one person, no matter how hard they may try, has all the answers. But as a team working together, the possible solutions and ideas become endless.
I am ready and willing to push through the coming challenges that await me, and I am ready to give this new life my all and to do the hard work that is required in building up a good solid foundation. I am ready to work with others in building a better world for us and our children. Strong community, and team work are the key to building a solid foundation, and it is this foundation that I am ready to build the rest of my life upon.
Skills & Experience
Over 15 years of House Painting and General Property Maintenance experience. I've worked for various employers and companies over the years, all of which helped in building my current skill-set and experience. Big take away is there is usually more than one way to get the same job done. I also maintained my own painting business for three years; ‘All About Painting’. A very valuable life experience. Also I have done a fair share of plumbing and carpentry work. The one thing I can say is, it doesn’t matter what path you decide to take in life, if you are going to succeed and be truly great at what you do, it is going to take a lot of hard work and dedication to achieve. Nothing good in life comes easy, nothing...
...and to that, these Skill Bars reflect the hard work I have put into becoming good at certain things. I will be updating this section to reflect my new skills as I begin to further my education in the Computer Sciences. So keep checking back! This list of skills will be growing and changing as I do. I truly believe the best way to learn anything in life is by rolling up your sleeves and digging in. Whether it be digging in the dirt or debugging dirty code, the only way to learn is to do!
On that note, the skill bar percentages are just picked based on how I feel I perform in these areas and are not decided based on any real scientific or substantial method that would validate their accuracy. It is meant more as a rough gauge of my skills based on my intuition about these subjects and not meant to be an absolute fact. I don't want anyone mislead. These values are represented as followed: 0% knows nothing up to 100% being a Jedi Master
Work Experience
My current and previous associations
Current
Full-time Bioinformatician in the Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory (PNL)
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Stepping into the full-time role of Bioinformatician I, I am set to expand my impact by creating sophisticated data analysis tools and software models to further refine image processing pipelines. My duties will encompass developing code for high-performance computing, web application deployment, and maintaining best practices in software development. My extensive programming background will be pivotal in testing neuroimaging packages and deploying cloud-based solutions, ensuring efficiency and scalability.
In this new chapter, my focus will be on enhancing collaborative efforts within the research team, aiding in software documentation, and supporting medical researchers in software utilization. My commitment to the advancement of bioinformatics at PNL is unwavering, as I aim to contribute to innovative research that has real-world implications for understanding the human brain and how it may relate to the development and possible treatment of psychiatric disorders.
December, 2023
Part-time Researcher in the Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory (PNL)
Brigham and Women's Hospital
My tenure as a Temp Researcher at the Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital has been marked by significant contributions to medical imaging. With a strong foundation in computer science from the University of Massachusetts Boston, I tackled the challenge of scanner-related biases in neuroimaging. My development work on Amazon Web Services (AWS) focused on harmonizing dMRI scans from diverse sources, thus not only improving data fidelity but also ensuring consistency for researchers and clinicians, facilitating more accurate analyses and diagnoses.
I am honored to get the opportunity to work with such a talented team of Doctors and researchers. Check out the team
and work being done by the PNL at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
January, 2024
Undergraduate Machine Psychology Fellow, Data Science Student Researcher
University of Massachusetts Boston, Machine Psychology
Worked on a research team lead by Dr. Daniel Haehn. Our research is in the domain
of medical image processing and Machine Learning. Our goals were to develop streamlined annotation software, train and tune an efficient breast cancer detection model and release the worlds largest mammography database. This database will
give medical communities around the world access to quality mammograms and cancer detection tools.
I have been responsible for building a flexible API for data exploration which allows us to access our
data in a robust and simplified manner. This gave fellow researchers an easy way to connect
to our medical images allowing them to gain meaningful insights into the data and how it is structured allowing them to better understand how to best use it. I have also designed an API to simplify the use of a very complicated pre-existing cancer classification tool named DeepSight.
In addition to multiple APIs I have developed a novel outlier detection algorithm that harnesses the power of unsupervised machine learning combined with advanced automation techniques which greatly improved our ability to remove unwanted images from our final datasets. This algorithm was published as a paper and presented with poster at MIDL (Medical Imaging with Deep Learning) 2023.
Current
Freelance Web developer and designer
HighREZ Design Studioz, Owner
Building Business and event webpages. Helping customers, starting with a free consultation and then taking them through every step of the design phase as we put together the requirements that bring to life the visions and ideas that make them unique and different. Using these specifications as a launchpad we build up a brand on their new site using cutting edge frameworks and lightening fast CMS platforms. These tools enable me to achieve quick and responsive results in less time and money than it would take from a bigger less personal Web page marketing company. Using my passion for building things and my creative mindset coupled with the new skills I've recently learned in school I have been able to build up a strong foundation in the web development field. I decided to build a business that was manageable as well as something I feel is greatly in demand. With this I welcome you to my new business landing page HighREZ Design Studioz.
August 28, 2021
Technology Intern
Norman Rockwell Museum
I managed a number of projects ranging from a massive inventory and audit of all computer and a audio/visual technology in Museum, to provisioning computers and mobile devices for digital experiences, wiring the Museum, beta-testing virtual exhibitions and setting up bug tracking software for it, and setting up and breaking down AV tech for complex hybrid public programs each week.
2020
Work Study
IT Department (2019-2020), Computer Lab Assistant (2018-2019)
Working around computers and helping fix problems, with computers. These were
great steppingstones and I was
lucky to get in with the computer lab and IT department at Berkshire Community College. Being involved in the behind-the-scenes action has
been a very enlightening experience. My responsibilities included things such as
imaging new computers, setting up and deploying computers for staff and students, helped to fix slow or not
working machines, doing any updates that were needed and in general just made sure the computers were
in smooth and efficient running order. These were my basic tasks; other tasks included naming and adding
computers to the schools domain, as well set up the default printers and
any of the software being used, making sure it was all registered and working properly.
In the Lab we made sure anyone needing any kind of help got it. This included activities such as showing people how to log into accounts,
getting pdf's to print properly as well as setting the printer up to print for specific and unique tasks.
A lot of very basic stuff to help out and keep everyone working in a productive and meaningful manner.
August, 2017
House Painting and Maintenance
Painter/Plumber/Landscaper
Most of my early adult hood and late teens was spent doing work that required a bit of physical dexterity. Everything from cleaning and installing big oil furnaces to weeding gardens and planting shrubbery. If there was something that needed to be fixed or required attention then I was there doing the job. I loved the fact that I could get payed to help people do the things that most people would not want to do. This was especially true of house painting. I painted houses more than anything else, and even had my own business for a bit. During winter months when the painting got slow, I was able to get work for a master plumber where we would winterize homes, install gas furnaces, pipe up bathroom and kitchens doing all the necessary plumbing that would be needed. It was all great experience and has really prepared me to apply a strong discipline within my academics and studying.
June, 2001
Entry Level Jobs
Cashier / Stocker / Customer Service / Food Service / Tree Service
During the early years I started out working just like anyone else I suppose. I Had a couple jobs at the local mall where I was able to start gaining experience in various work-related tasks and more importantly, I was able to gain experience with interacting with people. My early experiences were all across the board and I am very grateful for it now. Looking back at the lessons I learned, only now in retrospect is it clear that everything that has ever happened to me has brought me to this point now. And regardless of the mistakes made, I can honestly say I am grateful for it all as even in the mistakes were valuable lessons learned that can never be taken from me. My experience is diverse and unique and has built in me character and strength.
Education & Achievements
My life's greatest accomplishments outside of being a Dad.
Graduated: Dec 2023
Computer Science
Bachelor in Science for Computer Science (CS)
I am very excited to announce that I have been given an amazing opportunity to pursue my advanced degree in the field of Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, MA. I am now living in Boston, surrounded by an amazing city filled with opportunity. There are far more internships and tech companies available in Boston and I plan on securing some experience in a professional setting before I finish my degree. I plan to work hard and use every chance available to grow and learn. This chapter of my life will be a key component in my coming success and the bedrock I build the rest of my future on. There is only one goal for me now, and that is to achieve my dream of becoming an experienced and working software engineer.
Update: Graduated with my B.S. in Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston
Final GPA: 3.896
Fall, 2022
Research supported by Oracle and other sponsors
Unsupervised Outlier Detection for Large Image Collection
Working with Dr. Daniel Haehn as my mentor and faculty supervisor, This research is focused on using unsupervised learning to detect bad images in our breast cancer dataset of over 200,000 images. The goal is to determine which combination of features being fed into which algorithm(s) will produce the optimal results of filtering out unusable images from our data. Manually going over this many mammograms is not a feasible option as it would take much too long and be prone to possible human errors, as well it could lead to biases which would than produce an unbalanced dataset. We are hoping instead that with the help of unsupervised machine learning algorithms which are implemented within some powerful Python libraries such as PYOD, Scikit-image, and Mahotas, that we will be able to find a way to automatically detect outliers in our data. This would be a great contribution to the field of medical imaging and will hopefully be useful to many more researches who work with mammogram datasets.
UPDATE: This research led to the successful publication of a paper which was presented at the International Conference on Medical Imaging with Deep Learning (MIDL) 2023. Outlier Detection for Mammograms as well as a poster presentation at the 2023 CSM Showcase Event held at UMass Boston.
Graduated: Aug 2021
Computer Information Systems
Associate in Science for Computer Information Systems (CIS) and Certificate in Computer Programming - Technical
Having chosen the Computer Science path in the CIS degree program I have gained a much deeper and broader understanding of the way computer systems work and function. There was heavy emphasis on mathematics and the curriculum was designed to prepare students to move on to a baccalaureate institution for further study.
Update: Graduated with my A.S. in Computer Information Systems and a Certificate in Computer Programming
I will be transferring in the Fall 2021 to the University of Massachusetts Boston to finish up my studies and work towards receiving my Bachelor in Science in Computer Science. Here I come UMass Boston, I am ready to learn and be a Boston Beacon!
Final GPA: 3.689
April 29th, 2021
Awarded the CIS Program Award for 2021
Departmental Awards are given each year to top students within each field of study
I was beyond honored and humbled to have been chosen as the award recipient for the 2021 Program award in the Computer Information Systems discipline. I have always had a fondness for computers and how they worked and even would spend my allowance money as a kid on books ranging from hardware repair to programming topics like c++. Now to be fully emerged within the field feels like I have truly found my way home. Computation and problem solving is just a built-in function of my brain for which now I have the skills to transfer this into working programs for computers! This truly is one of my life's biggest Joys, and to get recognition for all the hard work feels nothing short of amazing.
October 18, 2018
Academic Excellence in Collegiate Studies
Received awards for doing well in my studies
This was an amazing feeling to be recognized for doing a good job. I have never had a chance before now to experience anything like that and I was so amazed and excited to have had that opportunity. I also receive a Falconer Award in Fine Arts around this time as well. This was because I first started as a Fine Arts major before moving to CS.
April, 2019
Phi Theta Kappa
Xi Alpha - Berkshire County Chapter
Due to outstanding grades, I was invited to join the PTK which is the 'International Honor society of American Community and Junior Colleges.' I was VP of Communications for the Xi Alpha chapter at BCC! 2019 semester. Our officer team took our chapter from a one star to a five-star chapter. Our Honors in action project was about the impacts of community policing and how it helps bring together the community and cops in a more trusting and meaningful manner. Part of this project was a big boot and shoe drive that was supported and sponsored by the local police departments Officer Derby, a leader on the front lines of community policing
TRiO - 2018 - 2020
Robotics Club 2019
STEM Starter Academy / TRIo Program / Robotics Club
College Support Groups and Extracurricular Activities
Being actively involved with programs and activities that are there on campus is a good way to build up interpersonal skills and relationships. Having access to information, resources and to members in the technology fields is very helpful when learning about new and exciting things. I've been very lucky to be able to have so many great people supporting me and my continued education. Being a non-traditional student has made it a bit difficult at times when it comes to learning new complex ideas and just having a place to turn to get the help needed has been a key component in my successful restructuring.
Portfolio
Things I have made throughout my life
Click a button to open images
Personal Journal
The Log Book to my Life
| Date | Title | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 7/09/2022 | Rayzur Reviews, technology book reviews | Book reviews |
| 7/06/2022 | SimpleSwap, Automated Market Maker | Blockchain |
| 6/4/2021 | Java programs | Java |
| 3/20/2021 | Data Structures and ADT's | C++ |
| 8/4/2020 | C++ II Programs, classes | C++ |
| 7/2/2020 | Google Sheets, Team Tally Sheet | Previous work |
| 6/22/2020 | Addressing the Times | Current Events |
| 12/25/2019 | Simple C++ Programs | C++ |
| 12/18/2019 | Coffee/Cocoa Vending Machine Circuit design | School Project |
| 8/14/2019 | Accountability | Self Help |
| 6/1/2019 | Feeling Like a Fake | Mental Health |
| 5/12/2019 | Understanding On a Deeper Level | Education |
| 5/11/2019 | The Whole Design Phase Write Up | Web Design |
