User:Bobbypowers
Hello!
I'm Bobby, and I'm interested in system dynamics, energy, and education. I'd like to bring system dynamics to the OLPC.
I'm applying for the Google Summer of Code with my project, OpenSim.
General Background
I attended RPI in Troy, NY for 2 years studying computer engineering, but wanted to do something more applied with my computer skills so I transferred to SUNY ESF in Syracuse, NY to major in Environmental Studies. I got back into coding through classes on ecological modeling, spatial modeling and GIS. I've been pretty heavily coding models, algorithms and interfaces for the past 2 years, mainly in C#, ObjC and some Fortran, but the past 3 months I've been using C++ for 8+ hours a day with some Python and Actionscript thrown in the mix. I've got a Mac with Linux (both FC8 and openSUSE10.3) and Windows, and I've just started over the past few weeks to pick up GTK, although I've used Cairo in a project for a couple months. I've only dabbled with the XO so far, but am really looking forward to developing for it.
Previous Projects
I've been involved with many projects before, both as part of my coursework and for work. I'm currently working with 2 others on implementing a multi-player, flash-based game that allows 6 people to control a hypothetical country as government ministers. The flash interfaces with a C# ASP.NET webservice, which in turn communicates with a DLL version of the Vensim simulation software. This past summer my friend and I created an interface for the large T21 North America model, a large System Dynamics model for simulating the effects of different government policies (like carbon taxes, electrification of the countries freight rails, etc) on energy demand, and oil price, among other things. The interface was written in C# with OpenGL for the visuals, and can be found here (sorry, Windows only).
RPI
At RPI I had experience with two large projects in the Spring of 2004, one was for http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/sep2007/bs2007099_192276.htm?chan=bschools_undergrad+--+favorite+professors+2007_favorite+professors Frank Wright] in my Intro to Management class (one of the hardest classes I've taken) and the other was in Introduction to Engineering Design. In the management class, our team of 4 was given the task of coming up with a strategy for Nokia to take over the next few years (in 2004 their once unassailable market share was being chipped away at).
bobbypowers@gmail.com
