That's me practicin bein Tixen.  

What I'm Up To

I am a Research Scientist Associate (in practice, mostly a software engineer) at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics in the delightful city of Austin. 

It's not a very exalted position, but I'm lucky to be at this very ambitious institution at all. I do get to think for a living, which makes me happy. I have always been interested in optimal use of information.  (I get paid, specifically, to investigate and create formal data-driven constraints on earth system models.)

Bio

B.Sc.: EE Northwestern U. Tech. Institute, 1976                

M.Eng.: Systems/Computer Engineering Carleton U., 1984

Ph.D.:  Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences U Wis Madison 1996

Postdocs: Argonne Lab department of Mathematics and Computer Science; University of Chicago department of Geophysical Sciences 

Intervening adventures in the private sector: Manager of a web software team at Clotho Advanced Media LLC. Architect of a citywide permit tracking system for the City of Madison. management consultant. Author of a book on management intended for small teams and high-performance small businesses. 

Things I do

  • Climate and climate change, especially contemporary and holocene time scales.
  • Blog, mostly about environmental issues. I occasionally contribute to Grist . 
  • Computing in general; Python in particular.
  • Software as medium and as topic in education. Literate programming and computer literacy.
  • Cognition/Communication/Control/Modeling/Decision Theory (concepts formerly known as "cybernetics").
  • Collaboration and productivity. 
  • Random bicycling, random landscape photography, where possible at the same time.
  • Member and board member of the Ethical Society of Austin, a branch of the American Ethical Union
  • Music. Jazz, blues, Texas swing. Piano and clarinet are my instruments. I am not very good.

Interests

Other things I find especially interesting, more as a spectator: 

  • History. Demographics, technology and environment as factors in history
  • Architecture, planning and civil engineering
  • Science fiction
  • Decorative and fine arts, mostly European 1850 - 1935, also Japanese woodcuts and silver age Marvel comics
  • Kubrick, The Coen Brothers, Steve Jobs, Tom Wolfe, the Naipaul Brothers, Alan Watts, Leonard Cohen, Samuel Delany, Philip K Dick, Bob Wills, Grapelli, Robert Hunter, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton ... 
Thanks to Irene for the picture, and lots of other good things.

Note: after a couple of years in Austin I'm a mite shaggier. Maybe a new pic coming.