A Little About Me

I was born in Danville, VA in 1986, and essentially lived there my whole childhood. I graduated from Dan River High School in 2004, and participated in various activities such as the band programs, varsity soccer (as a benchwarmer), and the SCAEL quiz bowl team. I was fortunate enough to be accepted into the Piedmont Governor’s School for Mathematics, Science, and Technology (PGSMST), and was able to become a Graduate of Merit.

After high school, I decided to attend Elon University in the small town of Elon, NC. There, I graduated in 2008 with a double major in biology and in international studies (Asian/Pacific studies concentration). I was also involved with several organizations on campus, including various band programs, the Emerging Leaders in Technology at Elon (ELITE), Biology Club, and Habitat for Humanity.

Afterwards, I attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, graduating in 2011 with a Masters in Bioinformatics (MBin). If you were wondering, yes I was there during the magical 2011 Final Four run by the men’s basketball team, and while I was very active in the basketball pep band at Elon, it pains me to say I never attended a home VCU game, which I still regret to this day. While at VCU, I played a role in developing the Bayesian OTU eXaminer, or BOTUX, which is a novel software designed to cluster 16s rRNA sequences into “operational taxonomic units” (OTUs) without the use of a reference database

Soon afterwards I accepted a position as a bioinformatics software engineer at the Institute for Genome Science (IGS) in Baltimore, Maryland. Over the years I have earned a promotion and have gotten to work on various fields, such as genomic annotation, transcriptomics, and lateral gene transfer to name a few. In addition, I have learned quite a bit on emerging developer technologies, such as cloud computing, containerization (Docker), and Common Workflow Language.

Five Quick Facts About Me

  1. I was born with cataracts and as a result my lenses were removed at a young age. Sometime later as a kid, I was diagnosed with glaucoma in both my eyes. Fortunately the my vision and eye pressure have been stable for many years now.
  2. My band instrument of choice is the saxophone, specifically the alto. I haven’t played it in a few years though. In high school, I did play auxillary percussion (xylophones) for a couple years
  3. Some of my favorite video games include Super Mario World, Persona 5, Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Trigger. My favorite indie game is probably Super Hexagon by Terry Cavanaugh.
  4. Running has become a thing for me over the past couple of years. I’ve cleared a couple of half-marathons already, and have lost close to 50 lbs from running. My favorite distance is still the 5k. Running has been a gateway into trying other things, and I have developed a love for the sport of dragon boating as well, which I particuate in with the Baltimore Dragon Boat Club.
  5. I am a sports junkie. I am pretty good with sports trivia, and love watching sports of all types, especially college sports. The Chicago Cubs and the Baltimore Ravens are my 2 favorite pro teams, and the Virginia Cavaliers is the college team I grew up rooting for.

Things I would love to put on my resumé but it just wouldn’t seem professional

  • Able to fold a fitted bedsheet
  • Was Time magazine’s 2006 Person of the Year
  • Can donate blood in under 4 minutes