Alex Decker

Still a Senior; that about sums up my status at Missouri S&T. Not having made the commitment to stay for grad. school, I'm just trying to soak up as much as I can before my funding runs out. The job market will probably determine my future after this coming year; if things are looking up, I may take the plunge, otherwise I may end up on a track toward PhD; perish the thought.

I have a broad background in Computer Science, but I didn't start there; I started as a Chemical Engineering major. My first semester at Missouri S&T, ages ago, I took FORTRAN77, still a requirement for all engineering majors (although I think they've moved on to FORTRAN90 or something, now). Not inspiring, let me tell you. However, my experiences in the Chemistry department (Organic Chemistry II is the real culprit here) convinced me to explore other avenues, so I did; I left. For three years, I worked for an Information Technology firm; I guess sometimes it pays to have friends. Well, I soon realized two things: 1. I was much more qualified than any of my colleagues to do that kind of work; and 2. I was massively under qualified for any really interesting jobs. So I decided to come back. I'll never regret it; I am more at home as a Comp. Sci. than I ever would have been as a ChemE.

I have dabbled in virtually every aspect of CS and I'm working to broaden my resume every day. I have extensive experience programming on multiple platforms in C++, perl, and python. I have experience writing performance oriented graphics applications for both DirectX and OpenGL. I have experience writing intensive numerical computation applications as well as low level O/S and network applications in both Windows and UNIX. I have experience programming Artificial Intelligence algorithms from the perspective of designing adversarial game AI.

This summer I'm working full time on collaboration between Batelle, TACOM and Missouri S&T designing Virtual Reality training environment for first responders to weapons of mass destruction events. We have a great team of developers led by a visionary leader and mentor, Dr. Michael Hilgers.