umbrant

I want to change the world for the better, as clichéd and idealistic as it sounds. I want to do something that has real world relevance. Fortunately for me, computer science offers this possibility, especially with the increasing presence of computers in today's world.

Perhaps even more pertinent is my bucket list, which essentially enumerates my life goals. I just started adding to the list, but I take it pretty seriously. It's a way of putting everything in perspective and doing really worthwhile things.

During the summers of 2007 and 2008, I interned at NavigationArts, an enterprise web development firm based in McLean, Virginia. It was a great experience, and I have endless respect for the talented IAs, designers, and developers at NavArts. I developed a customized Sharepoint intranet for internal use, as well as doing client work for The Greater Washington Board of Trade, Wolf Trap, The Association of American Medical Colleges, and The Sacramento Bee.

My skills cover all aspects of web development, from frontend HTML, CSS, and Javascript to backend PHP, Python, and ASP.NET, to SEO, optimization, and accessibility. I write it all by hand in vim with Firefox and Firebug, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

I'm majoring in computer science within the School of Engineering, expecting to graduate in May of 2010. I am also involved with UVa's ACM chapter and ICPC programming team. I plan on attending graduate school afterwards. Although I haven't decided on a research area yet, I enjoy high performance, parallel, and distributed computing as well as security.

Currently, I am an undergraduate researcher with Professor John Knight as part of Helix, a self-healing, dynamic approach to network and application security. It requires a mix of low and high level programming with a grounding in operating systems, networking, and cryptography. We recently submitted our paper, "Component-Oriented Monitoring of Binaries for Security", to DSN '10. We are also working on another paper regarding dynamic diversity and a metamorphic shield.

I have to give credit to my high school, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, for shaping me into who I am today. My four years at TJ were the most influential of my life. Being around so many smart, focused individuals was a great motivator, and I'm still close with many of the friends I made there. This is where I first discovered computers, made a website, and where I wrote my first big project: an all-in-one Bittorrent publishing package.

I have a few interests outside of computers as well. I love jazz and classical music, partially stemming from my own experiences playing piano and clarinet. I try to take advantage of the excellent music scene here in Charlottesville, and for any UVa student I highly recommend the History of Jazz class taught by Scott DeVeaux, by far the best non-CS course I've taken.

I also enjoy rowing, something I picked up from four years on the Occoquan with TJ's crew team. It's gotten a bit harder to jump in an eight with a big group of guys and go for a row, but I still manage to go occasionally by myself or with my dad at Thompson Boat Center on the Potomac. It's a very zen experience, and it's one of my favorite ways of spending a morning.