Jan Galkowski

Highly analytical and accomplished software engineer known for being an idea generator. In-depth, practical technical knowledge and business acumen. Proactive, forward-thinking, detail-oriented. Agile with new technologies. Dedicated to client needs and solutions, with particular understanding of regulated sectors and special government needs.. Comfortable with senior management, stakeholders. Keen interest in evidence-based, data centric statistical and numerical engineering. Deep understanding of businesses and technology involving spatial data, and of the special problems of Internet measurements. Interested in the special problems of mobile devices and other sensor networks, including position-finding and tracking.

Jan Galkowski’s Specialties:

R, PostgreSQL and other relational databases, ANSI C, C99, Ch, numerical algorithms, location algorithms and issues, spatial statistics, embedded software and applications, networking in support of content delivery, statistics and statistical inference, logical modeling, SQL, ODBC, ESQL/C, LISP, HTML, PHP, CGI, UNIX (AIX, Solaris, BSD, HP-UX, Linux) , XML, RSS, CSS2, MATLAB, FORTRAN, robotics. Talented in research, with great scholarship skills.

Jan Galkowski’s Experience

Senior Software Engineer

Akamai Technologies

(Public Company; AKAM; Internet industry)

July 2007 — Present (2 years 5 months)

In support of Akamai's significant Internet business and customer-empowering products, I work in Custom Analytics, a niche focussing upon new ways to characterize the Internet, its users and business customers, including devising powerful means for visualizing its complicated behavior, and to provide added value. Of keen interest are the spatial ties the Internet inevitably has, where nodes are located, what services are near them, and how this information can be made more useful to customers and clients. Also of interest are broad-based detectors of network intrusions, ones which can find and diagnose a network attack more sophisticated than taking down a node or subnet.

Much of this analysis is statistical, both aided and encumbered by massive datasets and complicated "long tail" distributions. Coding demands attention to quantitative detail as well as sensible efficiency. Much of the software is more reminiscent in style and approach to that used for embedded controls work rather than traditional Internet codes.

My focus has been leading projects for locating Internet users spatially given various network measurements, and for devising means of assessing and presenting such measurements over time.
owner, lead developer
The Smalltalk Idiom (Sole Proprietorship)

(Sole Proprietorship; 1-10 employees; Computer Software industry)

February 2001 — July 2007 (6 years 6 months)

PHP, C, and database development for small and medium-sized business clients across the US. Software for embedded controls. Powerbuilder.

Principal/Consultant
2001 - 2007
The Smalltalk Idiom, Endicott, NY

* Developed application for Intranet-enabled pathology-histology lab workflow
* Built Web-based, image-based architectural product inventory management tool
* Designed and built innovative distributed data storage system accessible by XmlHttpRequest for AJAX pages
* Wrote scripts for hire in Linden Labs’ Second Life
* Designed and built innovative spatial discussion groups service
* Web service for extracting tables from arbitrary Web sites
Consulting Test Engineer

Sensis Corporation

(Public Company; 501-1000 employees; Defense & Space industry)

January 2005 — May 2005 (5 months)

Technical team lead for ASDE-3X visual specifications acceptance testing, working closely with FAA customers

* Devised key test scenario production software; when used in conjunction with bench controls, this enabled needed safety rules testing
* Managed FAA subsystem working with FAA contractor to eliminate interface incompatibilities
Database Consultant Contractor

Cornell University

(Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Higher Education industry)

January 2004 — December 2004 (1 year )

Employee and Contractor at this world-class university on a variety of software projects for departments including Alumni Association; Liaison to corporate Informix team

* Devised and built key sections of alumni information warehouse using Cognos
Consulting Test Engineer

Westinghouse Nuclear Automation, Windsor, CT

(Public Company; 501-1000 employees; Mechanical or Industrial Engineering industry)

February 2003 — December 2003 (11 months)

Contract position at this global energy technology and services company

* Applied embedded software to verify nuclear reactor safety controls
* Built rapid test development and automation software which allowed quick comparison between truth models and installed C code, providing problem isolation
Programmer Analyst

Cornell University

(Non-Profit; 1001-5000 employees; Higher Education industry)

May 1998 — December 2002 (4 years 8 months)

Employee at this world-class university on a variety of software projects for departments including Alumni Association; Liaison to corporate Informix team

* Key role devising processes and transformation that resulted in the first major data warehouse for Cornell University, one that had previously been unsuccessful
* High performance ETL development for nightly rebuilds of this warehouse
* Used Visio to document ERDs of the PeopleSoft warehouse model
* Tested, monitored, operated, and debugged production data warehouse loads
* Resolved problems in HR benefits applications by writing custom C code
* Wrote critical new reports using Actuate, drawing from PeopleSoft database
Consulting Database and Web Developer

Aetna USHealthcare, Middletown, CT

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Insurance industry)

October 1997 — April 1998 (7 months)

Contract position through Aerotek/The Maxim Group at customer sites

* Spearheaded database publishing on corporate Intranet, resulting in achievement of project objectives which were not possible using tools that customer had in hand
* Built tools that measured productivity
* Created decision support systems used to manage corporate investment in product lines
Owner, Founder

Matrix Munchers, Vestal, NY

(Public Company; Myself Only; Computer Software industry)

February 1994 — December 1997 (3 years 11 months)

Owner and founder of this statistical and programming consultancy providing services to small and medium-sized businesses

* Instrumental in getting companies online, helping them become early adopters
* Created touch-screen based kiosk for exhibit artifacts, helping make the exhibit a regional success
Developer

Digicomp Research Corporation, Ithaca, NY

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Aviation & Aerospace industry)

January 1997 — July 1997 (7 months)

Employee of this software provider

* Created a reliability calculator that served to justify claims of reliability for client’s customers
* Devised benchmark calculations for geodetic accuracy determination
* Implemented software problem tracking system in Tcl/Tk
Software Developer - Contractor

Spider Graphics Corporation, Trumansburg, NY

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)

August 1996 — November 1996 (4 months)

Wrote back-end software for this software company

* Key technical role expanding business with Countrydata.com client
* Managed several client Web sites, including Web-accessible inventory for a bookstore, and catalogs of products for an avian research firm and a machine products firm
* Improved and managed online image maps of bed-and-breakfast locations and Finger Lakes wineries
Advisory Engineer

Loral Federal Systems, Owego, NY

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Defense & Space industry)

April 1994 — December 1995 (1 year 9 months)

Formerly IBM Federal Systems, this provider of government software and radar systems was purchased by Loral in 1993

* Built major portion of total system acceptance test of large ESM set
* Devised innovative ways of using existing signal simulators to provide additional important test capabilities which were recognized by government customer
Advisory Engineer-Scientist

IBM Federal Systems

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; IBM; Defense & Space industry)

May 1976 — March 1994 (17 years 11 months)

IBM Federal Systems Owego, NY
Embedded systems engineer for this government systems division of IBM, executing integration and testing of avionics; supervised teams

* Co-developed PC-based business Forms Designer program which sold 5,000 copies
* Awarded U.S. Patent 4,803,651, issued 2/7/89, for software coding systems

Prior to 1989, Advisory Engineer/Scientist, developing key software for avionics use, supporting tools (simulators, compilers, assemblers), and participating in the development of the programming language ADA for the Department of Defense.

Jan Galkowski’s Education

University of Illinois

additional coursework , CS497 advanced OO design and programming with Professor Ralph Johnson , August 2001 — December 2001
Cornell University

additional coursework , EE (digital signal processing), numerical linear algebra, advanced calculus , September 1987 — April 1989
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

S.M. , EE and Computer Science , 1974 — 1976
Providence College

B.S. , Physics , September 1970 — May 1974

Additional Information

Jan Galkowski’s Websites:

My Blog

Jan Galkowski’s Interests:

applications of statistics and matrix methods to networks, spatial data problems, position estimation; numerical methods, numerical linear algebra; relational databases; programming languages of significance

Jan Galkowski’s Groups:

Member of the American Statistical Association (ASA); member of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM); member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM); member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); Asssociate of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI); member of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).