Picture of Me @ Christmas!
I graduated in from Princeton Senior High School in 2004. I also obtained a certificate of Computer Engineering from Mercer County Technical Education Center and passed my A+, i-Net+, and Network+ certifications through CompTIA. I traveled to Kansas City to compete in the national SkillsUSA Computer Maintenance Competition after winning the gold metal at the state championships. I placed 9th in the nation in the secondary category and was the first secondary student from West Virginia to place in the top ten at this competition.
In 2008, I graduated from West Virginia University Institute of Technology with a degree in Computer Science. I was a co-founder and chairperson of LANville Gamer Community during this time. I worked hard to develop methodology to make charity LAN parties more profitable. LAN for Life was featured on Charleston, WV news, and I spoke at Notacon about how LAN for Life works and is effective for raising money. This was my first major presentation, and I performed terribly.
I’m currently a Masters of Science student at West Virginia University specializing in Knowledge/Software Engineering and Computer Forensics. I’m also employeed by the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at West Virginia University as the Computer and Electronics Shop manager. I guarantee I love my job on more days than other people. I love Linux, and I have Ubuntu installed on every machine I own. The open-source movement is very important to me since the idea promotes education and sharing. My other interests are hacking, game development, and web development.
I’ve lived in West Virginia all of my life. I’ve started taking the state motto “Montani Semper Liberi” to heart lately. I may leave to obtain my Ph.D., but I don’t want to move away forever. West Virginia has always been my home, and my goal is to help improve the state so that others who feel the same way can come home.
In addition to my Masters studies, I’m currently trying to write papers for upcoming conferences such as Notacon and Ohio Linuxfest and publications such as 2600 magazine. The co-founders of LANville and I are also working to start a state-wide gamer community in an effort to promote LAN gaming and unite gamers in the state of West Virginia.
If you’ve read this far, I apologize for you not having another better to do. Thanks for reading though!