Jason Scherer

 

 

 

 

 

jason.scherer@gmail.com

http://www.instanttheories.com

 

Education

 

Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

M.S. in Computer Science expected June 2010

Columbia College of Columbia University

B.A., Computer Science, 1999

 

Research Experience and Group Projects

 

MESHOPT (research with Miklos Bergou under Professor Eitan Grinspun)

9/2009 – present

Physics-based animation: currently working on integrating an animation codebase for discrete shells with another platform for flexible rods. Simulator uses Finite Element Method to compute minimum energy at each timestep in order to model physics using implicit integrators which require linear solver package (Uses BLAS/LAPACK, Intel MKL, FLENS, PETSc). Profiling using gprof, valgrind, vtune.  

 

Macro/Ray (group project with Aurelien Serandour under professor Ravi Ramamoorthi)

9/2008 – 12/2008

Two group projects in computer graphics: an OpenGL renderer game engine, using procedurally generated foliage (L-systems), and a full raytracer including reflections and refractions.  

 

Prune Dependency Analyzer (research with Marc Eaddy under Professor Alfred Aho)

1/2008 – 6/2008

Built a better-architected, more extensible version of Marc's existing Prune Dependency Analyzer tool in Java, using Soot, a state-of-the-art compiler framework and Polyglot, an AST framework.   This is part of the "concern tagger" project, which sought to create a way to analyze source code and automatically assign concerns (program requirements) to lines of code.

 

Advise (group project with Gaurav Gautam under Professor Alfred Aho, through Columbia)

9/2007 – 12/2007

Architected and developed refactoring static analysis tool for ECMAScript using C# and GPPG/GPLEX.

 

Syrinx (independent/non-affiliated)

2005 – present

Invented, architected, and implemented a musical composition language for Linux in C++ using lex and yacc.

 

RCM (independent/non-affiliated)

2001 – present

Invented, architected, and implemented a Scheme variant and graphical development environment in C++, STL, and .NET managed C++ on Windows.

 

Work Experience

 

R/GA, New York, NY.

9/99 - present

Senior Research Engineer and Solutions Architect

 

L’Oreal

Architecture lead

 

Invented and architected the LOX Framework: an RIA platform for L’Oreal sites using Flash, XML/XSLT, C# .Net, MTASC, and Nant, supporting localization, SEO, user login sessions, and tracking.  Successfully initiated and nurtured unusual cooperation in a multi-developer team effort, in part by creating a modular system that allowed developers to plug in interface components by simply adding a class definition and an XML tag.  LOX version 1 was reused and refined over a 9 month period on 4 major sites (vivepro.com, advancedrevitalift.com, ageperfectprocalcium.com, ageperfectfoundation.com).  LOX version 2 was created for lorealparisusa.com, and improved scalability by dynamically loading code and assets as needed.  Also developed the L'Oreal Haircolor Diagnostic, an expert system involving a ruleset database with more than 20,000 rules.

 

The Reuters Sign in Times Square

Architect, technical project manager, lead engineer.

 

Co-architected and developed custom software driving one of the world's most advanced outdoor digital signage systems, The Reuters Sign, a 26-story LED sign in Times Square.  Designed and implemented scheduler, database, and news feed software using C++ and SQL.  Managed account over 8 year period as requirements evolved and features were added.  Examples include Time POY in Times Square (users upload photos to a website which then appear on the sign) and on-sign game experiences with cell phones.

 

Avaya

Technical project manager

 

Led tech team through major redesign and rebranding effort.  Closely interfaced with client and partners to gather requirements, create concepts, and manage expectations.  Wrote documentation.  Avaya named on Crain’s “Best B2B Websites” list.

 

The Rouse Company

Lead engineer

 

Reused and extended Reuters code base for a signage system in Fashion Show Mall, Las Vegas.

                                                      

IBM

Lead engineer

 

Designed and developed pre-XSLT HTML code generation tool in Java for IBM Archives website.

Other projects for:

Lucent (Technical Project Manager), Nike (Developer), Purina (Developer), Ian Schrager Hotels (Developer and co-architect), NYC2012 (Technical Project Manager), Ameristar Casinos (Developer), T-Mobile (Developer), Helmut Lang (Developer)

 

Concretemedia Construction, New York, NY.

1/99 – 9/99

Web Application Developer

Key developer on Princeton Review "Homeroom" site, an online standardized adaptive test-taking platform for K-6th grade students. 

 

Sun Microsystems Laboratories (Sun Labs), New York, NY.

6/98 – 12/98

Intern

Developed "purse" application to run on a Dallas Semiconductor iButton (the "Java ring", a wearable smartcard).  Extended a Java reliable multicast application (a desktop stock ticker) to use the iButton as decryption device.

 

Lockheed Martin -- Western Development Labs, San Jose, CA.

5/97 – 8/97

Intern

Developed a research prototype for an internet/broadband satellite gateway project.  Explored using a Fore ATM switch as a bandwidth control device.

 

Publications

 

Restricted Channel Multicast in Java (with Rinaldo DiGiorgio)

JavaWorld.com, 09/01/98

http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-09-1998/jw-09-javadev.html

 

Technical Summary

 

Windows and UNIX programming background.  System architecting, web programming, database design and programming, application programming, OOA/OOD, design patterns, web services, multithreaded programming, concurrency handling, sockets (TCP/IP, UDP, IPC), UI programming, cross-browser HTML/DHTML, code analysis and maintenance, documentation. 

Excellent writer, excellent verbal communication skills.

 

Syntax:

C++/C/C#/Java/JavaScript/ActionScript, SQL, HTML/CSS, XML/XSLT/XPath, Lisp/Scheme, VB/VBScript

API’s:

Flash 8/Actionscript 2.0, .NET, XSLT, Transact SQL/SQL Server, WSH, DHTML, STL, MFC, ASP, ADO

Dev Tools:

vim, Visual Studio, Subversion/CVS, VSS, windows bat files, UML, make, NAnt, gcc, bash, Visio, mtasc

Other:

Electronic music composition, sound synthesis, and audio application programming.  Csound, Nyquist, Nord Micro-modular, Jeskola Buzz, Audacity, Cubase, FLStudio, Absynth.