Michael Van De Vanter

Current

• Senior Staff Engineer at Sun Microsystems Inc.

Past

• Cofounder and Vice President at Qualitas, Inc.
• Consultant (Self-employed)
• Lecturer, Computer Science Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

• Senior Analyst at Urban Systems Research & Engineering
• Office Manager at Winsenberg Logging Company
• Programmer/Analyst at Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, & Transportation District
• Programmer/Analyst at Pacific Gas & Electric

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Education

• University of California, Berkeley
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Freie Universität Berlin

• Stanford University

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1 more...

Recommended

6 people have recommended Michael

Connections

189 connections

Industry

Computer Software

Websites

• My Website

Michael Van De Vanter’s Summary

Industry leader in software productivity with a track record spanning customer requirements, human factors studies, research and innovation, technology transfer, product development, and training. Proven ability to match what’s needed with what’s possible, drawing on a unique combination of expertise in software engineering practices and deep insight into programming tools and technologies. A critical thinker with excellent communication skills and a record of innovation that includes 10 patents and 18 publications.

Michael Van De Vanter’s Specialties:

My research and advanced development in the area of human factors software development tools extends over more than twenty years. I've been invited to the 2007 Summer Institute sponsored by the U. of Washington and Microsoft Research to help set the research agenda for "the Human Side of Software Development." I hold 10 patents and have 18 research publications, details at my personal web site: http://homepage.mac.com/mlvdv/

Michael Van De Vanter’s Experience

• Senior Staff Engineer

  Sun Microsystems Inc.

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; JAVA; Computer Software industry)

  August 1992 — Present (17 years 4 months)

  I'm now working with Sun's DARPA-funded High Productivity Computing Systems project, studying how we can increase the productivity of current HPC programmers and make highly parallel programming accessible to a larger population of software developers. I previously planned and developed advanced technologies for Sun's Developer Platforms Group, and before that I was Principal Investigator of the Jackpot Project at Sun Microsystems Laboratories, whose technology has now transferred into the NetBeans IDE.

• Cofounder and Vice President

  Qualitas, Inc.

  (Non-Profit; Research industry)

  1982 — 1992 (10 years )

  A consulting firm specializing in data management, analysis, and quality control in support of litigation and institutional research (not to be confused with a software company using the same name).

• Consultant

  Self-employed

  (Self-Employed; Myself Only; Computer Software industry)

  1972 — 1992 (20 years )

  - All phases of software system design, development, and management. Application areas include financial modeling, data management and quality control, numerically controlled manufacturing, and real-time survey research support systems.
  - Developed and presented in-house seminars and training on software system design and documentation, programming methodology, and data quality control.
  - Research assessment, quality control reviews, system design reviews, and evaluation of data supporting legal actions.

• Lecturer, Computer Science Department

  California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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

  August 1979 — March 1983 (3 years 8 months)

  Undergraduate and master's level computer science education. I developed and taught the department's first Software Engineering Course, which eventually evolved into the first degree granting program in Software Engineering offered in California. I currently serve on the department's Industrial Advisory Committee.

• Senior Analyst

  Urban Systems Research & Engineering

  (Privately Held; Research industry)

  1977 — 1979 (2 years )

  Data analysis and software development for a consulting firm specializing in contract research.

• Office Manager

  Winsenberg Logging Company

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Paper & Forest Products industry)

  1975 — 1976 (1 year )

  I took two years away from my career in computing for a kind of "roots" tour of duty in the Alaska logging industry. I lived and and worked two seasons in a wilderness logging camp near Ketchikan. I ordered supplies, kept the books, wrote the payroll, scheduled bush plane transportation to and from camp, repaired things, and had the opportunity to live in the Alaskan wilderness. It was great.

• Programmer/Analyst

  Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, & Transportation District

  (Public Company; Transportation/Trucking/Railroad industry)

  1971 — 1972 (1 year )

  Software development for the district's first automated payroll system.

• Programmer/Analyst

  Pacific Gas & Electric

  (Public Company; PCG; Utilities industry)

  1969 — 1970 (1 year )

  Software development for the company's first automated financial forecasting system.

Michael Van De Vanter’s Education

• University of California, Berkeley

  Ph.D. , Computer Science , 1983 — 1992

  Berkeley Fellow, IBM Fellow
  Dissertation: User Interaction in Language-Based Editing Systems

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  MS , Computer Science , 1975

  Thesis title: A Formalization and Correctness Proof of the CGOL Language System

• Freie Universität Berlin

  Economics 1970 — 1971

  Rotary Foundation Fellow for International Understanding

• Stanford University

  B.S , Mathematics , 1966 — 1970

  Graduated Phi Beta Kappa, With Great Distinction, and with Mathamatics Departmental Honors.

Additional Information

Michael Van De Vanter’s Websites:

• My Website

Michael Van De Vanter’s Interests:

I am interested in Computer Science education, especially in the area of Software Engineering. I speak German, and I lived in Germany for nearly two years total. In 1978 I took a group of 13 high school students to Germany for a summer homestay program organized by The Experiment In International Living.

Michael Van De Vanter’s Groups:

Industrial Advisory Council of the Computer Science Department at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, one of the leading non-Ph.D granting CS programs in the US.
Program Committee, International Workshop on Source Code Analysis and Manipuliation, 2004 Program Co-chair
Association for Computing Machinery
IEEE Computer Society, 2007 Summer Institute
Graduate of several Landmark Education programs

•    The Official Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Group
•    Landmark Graduates
•    ACM Members
•    MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology Alumni
•    User Experience
•    Berkeley Engineering Alumni
•    Sun Microsystems, Inc.
•    Stanford University Alumni Association
•    Sun-Oracle

Michael Van De Vanter’s Honors:

10 patents, inlcuding 8 as sole inventor.
2007 Summer Institute on the Human Side of Software Development.
San Jose Junior League 2000 "Silver Bowl" award for volunteerism in the community.
Rotary Foundation Fellow in International Understanding, West Berlin, Germany

Michael Van De Vanter’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch