CCI Senior Project

Bob Arnold has worked in the defense industry and has held various positions in software and systems engineering for over 20 years. Bob is currently a Sr. Manager of Systems Engineering at L3Harris in Philadelphia and the Systems Engineering lead for the Maritime Power Systems division. He has worked on a variety of projects and domains ranging from C++, Java and Angular based web applications. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering (1999) and a MS in Computer Science (2000) from Drexel University. Bob also earned his MBA from Temple University in 2013.

Ellen Bass (ejb96@drexel.edu)

ELLEN BASS is Interim Associate Dean for Research and Professor in the Department of Information Science at Drexel University’s College of Computing and Informatics. She also holds affiliate status in Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions and School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems. Bass has over 30 years of human-centered systems engineering research and design experience. Bass is a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and past Secretary-Treasurer. Bass holds a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, an M.S. in Advanced Technology from the State University of New York at Binghamton, a B.S.Eng. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.S.Econ. in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania.

Samantha Bewley (sbewley@emoneyadvisor.com)

Samantha Bewley is a Development Manager at eMoney Advisor. She holds a BS in Computer Science (2017) and a BS in Mathematics (2017) from Drexel University, and a MS in Computer Science (2018) and a MA in Mathematics (2019) from Villanova University. Samantha has worked on eMoney Advisor's Parser Team in the Analytics and Aggregation department since 2015, and was named Development Manager in 2019. Samantha resides in Radnor, PA with her husband (also a Drexel CS graduate!) and their cat. She spends her free time traveling, cooking, and mentoring High School Computer Science students at Lower Merion High School.

Tom Burdak (tom.burdak@gmail.com)

Tom Burdak is a Software Engineer at Microsoft. He holds a BS in Computer Science (2013) from Drexel University and has 10 years experience in the games industry. Tom has worked on several Triple A titles from Microsoft on Xbox including Project Spark, Halo 5, and the announced title Halo Infinite. Much of his career has been working on custom engine architecture, systems level optimizations, and user interaction systems. Tom’s most recent work has been a new transition in to the Virtual and Augmented Reality within the Mixed Reality Division of Microsoft. This latest body of work has been a part of the team responsible for remote execution of cloud apps in the mixed reality space. This focus has been on the development of the now open source Mixed Reality Extension SDK, with TypeScript based remote apps and native runtimes for various engines that target VR and Other platforms.

Tim Burke (tim_burke@uhc.com)

Tim Burke is a Principal Data Engineer at UnitedHealth Group. He is a former Drexel student in the College of Information Studies who has spent the last 30+ years employed in a variety of positions working on software development and data integration, primarily focused on data warehousing, data migration and master data management. He has generated a vast amount of experience by working in a variety of industries, most notably are retail, marketing, insurance, and healthcare. A lifelong resident of Bucks County, PA, he is an avid Philadelphia “4 for 4” sports fan (plus the Union) who enjoys golf, snowboarding and traveling with his family.

Libu Chacko (lchacko@gmail.com)

Libu Chacko is a software engineer at KWI and holds a BS in Computer Science from Drexel University (‘05) and an MBA from UMASS Amherst. His experience goes beyond technology as he has been involved in marketing, product development, and operations for many years with several startups. Libu's currently working on an e-commerce platform that brings together the in-store retail experience with your online experience.

John Cunningham (jchawk@comcast.net)

John Cunningham has been an IT professional for the past 35 years, primarily in the retail sector. His roles have included software testing and development at a detailed and management level, performance testing, and website support and technology. He has managed software development teams for the last 30 years. In recent years he has presided over these teams during a period of significant website growth and has streamlined support and deployment processes for Pep Boys. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from St. Joseph’s University and a MS in IT (1990) from Drexel University.

Josh Daltry (jdaltry@gmail.com)

Josh Daltry is the Chief Technology Officer at Scoir, which is building a digital network to improve the college admissions experience. Josh leads the teams responsible for product engineering, product management, design, and data science. A startup veteran, Josh was formerly the Chief Technology Officer at Picwell (health plan recommendations) and eMoney Advisor (financial planning software), the latter of which sold to Fidelity Investments for $250 million in 2015.

Ori Damary (ori.damary@gmail.com)

Ori Damary 2005 Drexel CS Grad who took home the 2nd prize in the Senior Project Competition - we built a 3D chess game (with 3D graphics) that was played over bluetooth between two handheld devices. Before the iPhone existed. Co-founded a startup while a pre-junior at Drexel and for the next 15 years, led a small team to building a fully automated web template service tailored for artists and musicians. (We launched the same year as Squarespace!) We hosted over 5000 paying customers' websites in 40+ countries around the world. Currently an Engineering Manager at Compass, a real-estate unicorn based in NYC, whose building the platform for real estate.

Tim Day (the.tday@gmail.com)

Tim Day is a Software Engineer at Magic Fuel Games, a mobile game company specializing in simulation games. Tim holds a BS in Computer Science (2015) and an MS in Digital Media (2018) from Drexel University. At Drexel Tim co-founded Sweet Roll Studio and released three titles to various platforms.

Ali Eshtehardian (eshtehar@msu.edu)

Ali Eshtehardian is a PhD student in computer science at Michigan State University. He is also done his master's and bachelor's in mechanical engineering. He has done many projects and a few papers in robotics and artificial intelligence and has good experience in these areas. Currently, his research focuses on formal methods and their applications in distributed systems.

Adam Feldscher (afeldscher@gmail.com)

Adam Feldscher graduated in 2020 from Drexel University with a BS/MS in Computer Science. He is a software developer at Woodward McCoach, a hardware development company specializing in the optical telecommunications industry. Part of his job is working as a mentor to Drexel Co-Ops and new graduates. He specializes in embedded system development and high performance optical signal processing. Adam lives in Chester County with his girlfriend and 3 pets. In his free time, he enjoys working on cars and small electronics projects.

Steve Fox (Sfox9240@gmail.com)

Steve Fox is a Software Developer at Clarivate since 2015 and he holds a BS in Computer Science from Drexel University 2015. Steven has worked on both the Web of Science and Incites within Clarivate at various levels of the technology stack. Clarivate aids in helping scientific researchers acquire funding, discover peer-reviewed scholarly articles to aid in their research, as well as quantify their impact to the scientific community. He is a Philadelphia native, founder of Drexel's Dragon Jedi student organization, and current head coach of the Drexel Shotokan Karate Club. He enjoys playing video games, playing piano, and Lindy Hop swing dancing.

Allan Frank (allan.frank@me.com)

Allan Frank is the President of a local consultancy, Think New Visions. He retired this past December as Chief Technology & Innovation Officer for Capgemini Invent, a global business unit of the Capgemini Group. He also led the Data & Analytics Solutions practice within Capgemini Invent North America. He brings 40+ years of technology and business leadership. His background includes: President, CTO & Cofounder of Hackett/Answerthink, Inc, CTO for the City of Philadelphia, and Partner-in-Charge of Enabling Technologies Consulting, CTO & Boardmember with KPMG Peat Marwick. Allan today focuses on the application of transformational technologies, in particular, the disruptive role of Artificial Intelligence.

Maurice Gaston (Maurice_Gaston@comcast.com)

Maurice Gaston is a software engineer, an engineering leader, and started out a proud Mechanical Engineering student at Drexel University. As a software engineering leader at COMCAST NBCUNIVERSAL, he welcomes challenges in code and with people, daily. He is also engaged with community building, story creation, and mentorship. As a lifelong Philadelphia-native, when he isn’t helping his teams be their best, he’s involved in communities of practice about the city that includes being a board member for Coded By Kids, technical speaking engagements, and many things Philly Tech.

Robert Gray (robert.c.gray@drexel.edu)

Robert C. Gray is an MS and PhD graduate from Drexel in Digital Media (2018/2022), where he also helped to launch the Entrepreneurial Game Studio (2014). He is now working as an AI and games researcher. With 15 years of software industry experience, Gray is actively publishing in peer-reviewed journals and conferences on topics like HCI, user modeling, and AI-driven, adaptive software experiences. Gray's recent work involves research in multiplayer environments, player motivation models, and AI fairness. With a BS in Computer Science (2005) and an MBA (2011), he has also served in producer and lead developer roles in the gaming industry. Prior to working in games and research, Gray built a software engineering foundation at Microsoft on Office (Excel, PowerPoint) and natural language applications.

Hosna Hamdieh (h.hamdieh@gmail.com)

Creative and solution-oriented Sr. Data Scientist/ ML Engineer with ten years of proven results, optimizing time and resources. Master graduate of Applied Business Analytics from Carleton University with innovative solid problem-solving skills, critical thinking, global mindset, effective communication, and presentation skills, experienced in both start-ups and large accomplished corporations. Skilled Python developer ready to build solutions for real problems, automating data process pipelines.

Maher Harb (mh3274@drexel.edu)

Waiting for a Bio :) Hang Tight!

Yongcan Huang (yh15555@uga.edu)

Yongcan Huang is currently pursuing a PhD in Transportation Engineering at the University of Georgia (UGA) and possesses a broad research background in AI-empowered traffic data analytics, traffic scene understanding. He earned the distinction of Traffic Safety Scholar at the 2023 Lifesavers conference. Prior to enrolling at UGA, he served as a research assistant at the Shibarura Institute of Technology in Tokyo, Japan, and Changsha University of Science and Technology in Changsha, China. During these roles, he focused on facility management through point cloud data processing.

Frank Jacquette (frank.jacquette@jacquette.com)

Frank Jacquette (Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, 1991) is the president and CEO of Jacquette Consulting, an information technology consulting company. He has spent almost thirty years building a career as a speaker, entrepreneur, business consultant, and software architect. His company has been named to the Inc. 5000 twice, the Philadelphia 100 six times, and listed as a Best Place to Work in multiple publications. He has been inducted into the Philadelphia 100 Hall of Fame and profiled in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Zahra Jalilpour (zahrajalilpour@gmail.com)

Zahra is a Data Scientist/Engineer currently at Sogeti in Sweden, bringing over 20 years of experience in the telecommunication industry. Her areas of expertise encompass Azure administration, machine learning, time series analysis, anomaly detection, and data quality analysis. She holds a BSc and MSc in Electronic Engineering, as well as an MSc in Machine Learning from Linköping University. Zahra has applied her skills across various sectors including telecommunications, forestry, energy, and mining. As a certified Azure Administrator and Data Scientist, she has a proven track record of leveraging data to drive decision-making and foster improved business outcomes.

Michael Kain (Michael.Kain@unisys.com)

Mike Kain is a Distinguished Engineer and Security Architect for Enterprise Computing Solutions at Unisys Corporation. He has held various technical leadership positions at Unisys and has over 38 years of industry experience. Mike holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Delaware (1986) as well as a Master of Science degree from Drexel University (1996). He has 27 years of teaching experience as an adjunct professor at Drexel University, teaching Computer Networking and Operating Systems as both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He holds six US patents in the area of networking and inter-process communication.

Colin Kerr (Colin.Kerr@bentley.com)

Colin Kerr is a Software Engineer at Bentley Systems, working on an application framework which provides a common data format and API to enable a free flow of business data between Bentley applications.

Mike Liebmen (mliebman1@bloomberg.net)

Mike Liebmen is Director of Business Intelligence at Bloomberg LP. He holds a BA in Computer Science, Psychology, and English from Lehigh University (1988), and a MS in Information Systems from Drexel (1998). Mike started with Bloomberg in 2003 as the lead Data Architect, and has been leading the Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, and Data Management teams since 2010, empowering the entire Bloomberg organization to perform analytics. He also currently serves as the lead of the US Abilities community, supporting and raising awareness around physical disabilities, mental health, neurodiversity, and chronic conditions. Previously, Mike has worked in a variety of industries and has had three technology startups.

Andrew Meinert (meinert@gmail.com)

Andrew Meinert is a 2009 BS graduate of the Computer Science department at Drexel University. For the past 6 years Andrew has worked at HubSpot, the largest SaaS startup out of the east coast, located in Cambridge MA. He started as a Senior Systems Engineer at HubSpot to help securely scale a wide range of tech, including Windows/Active Directory, CentOS, AWS, GCP, MFA, Okta, and Slack. He currently manages the System Operations team which is composed of 11 system administrators and engineers responsible for several hundred servers, a variety of hosted applications, development projects, and core 3rd party SaaS services supporting HubSpot's 5000 global employees. He lives just south of Boston with his wife and two young children.

Sara Nichterlein (sara.nichterlein@gmail.com)

Sara Nichterlein is a software engineer at Comcast, focused on immersive technology, including virtual reality, augmented reality, and gamified learning. She holds a BS in Computer Science (2020) from Drexel University and won first place in the Senior Project Competition with her game development team. Sara is also one of the leaders of Press X at Comcast, which is a technology group focused on gaming and the gaming community in the company. When Sara isn’t working, she enjoys writing, playing video games with friends, and spending time with her two cats, Wednesday and Pugsley.

Jordan Osecki (jordan.osecki@gmail.com)

Jordan Osecki is an Engineering Manager at Bloomberg LP. He holds a BS and MS (dual degree) in Computer Science (2010) from Drexel University. While at Drexel, Jordan worked in the GICL Laboratory conducting research under Professor William Regli, accumulated a year of full-time work experience through co-ops in multiple offices in the U.S. Department of Defense, and Jordan's senior design project team won the competition in 2010. Jordan has worked at Bloomberg LP for almost 11 years (directly after graduating Drexel), first as a Junior/Senior Software Engineer for the Data Technologies Contributions team (building three-tier architecture solutions for several large outside firms to advertise their security holdings on Bloomberg's software offering), then as a Team Leader for the Data Technologies Web Services team (creating web-based solutions to aid in data acquisition/publishing including https://www.openfigi.com, https://lei.bloomberg.com, and https://www.gigwork.net), and finally for the last few years as the Engineering Manager for the Data Technologies Financial Instruments Datasets group (comprised of 6 teams that are responsible for the data pipelines and workflows to capture all information needed for financial instruments or securities shown on Bloomberg's software and enterprise offerings). Jordan resides in Newtown Borough (Bucks County), PA with his wife (also a Drexel grad with an MBA!), their two young children, and their dog Chuck. He spends most of his free time with his family and working on their historical home (which is turning 100 in 2022!).

Samira Rezaei (samira.rezaei129@gmail.com)

Samira Rezaei was a PhD student in the electrical engineering department of Drexel university in 2021 and 2022 that she transferred to another university in her second year to continue her PhD studies in this field. She was poster reviewer in Grace Hopper Conference and Judge for ACM undergraduate and graduate research competitions between years 2019-2021. Samira’s research interests are using AI in biomedical and agriculture industries.She also works on designing and simulating biosensors for different applications in biomedical and agriculture industries. Samira received her master degree in electrical engineering from University of Washington,Seattle,WA in 2017 and she holds a BS degree in Physics from Portland State University,Portland,OR in 2014.

Paul Ritchey (pritchey@gmail.com)

Paul Ritchey has worked in cyber security for over 20 years. Over the course of his career he helped design, build and deploy an architecture for a highly scalable intrusion detection system (IDS), taught classes covering the Snort IDS and managed teams supporting research and production environments. He now works as a government lead within the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center’s (C5ISR Center) Cyber Security Service Provider (CSSP) managing the software development and system administration teams supporting the infrastructure for their production environment.

Rob Ross (rossrd@gmail.com)

Rob Ross received a BS in Computer Science from Drexel University in 2019. While at Drexel, Rob worked on signal processing algorithms with the Drexel Wireless Systems Lab’s Bellyband project and lead a senior design team to develop a CNN capable of detecting certain types of cells in human tissue slides. Rob's Bellyband research has been presented at IEEE conferences and appears in an upcoming book. Since graduation, Rob has focused on computer vision with deep neural networks, first as a research scientist at Riverside Research, and now at AWS, where he is a machine learning engineer. Rob is also a part-time Masters of Software Engineering student at Carnegie Mellon University. When away from work or study, Rob enjoys mentoring the next generation of computer scientists through Drexel’s WiCS program and the non-profit Skype-a-Scientist.

Elham Sherafat (elham.sherafat@uconn.edu)

Elham Sherafat is Assistant Professor In-Residence in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Connecticut. She holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Connecticut. Elham has over ten years of Machine Learning and Data Science research and software engineering experience. Recently, she has worked on developing supervised and semi-supervised learning methods and bioinformatics pipelines for personalized cancer treatment.

Mike Stratoti (Mike.Stratoti@bentley.com)

Mike Stratoti is a Principal Software Engineer at Bentley Systems, Incorporated. He holds a BS in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University and a MS in Computer Science from Drexel University. Over his 40+ year career, Mike has worked on hardware and software from single chip microprocessors to large mainframe distributed systems; including device drivers, long lived commercial applications, and large distributes systems. Mike’s recent work is on automated systems for building large commercial software and tools for verifying commercial product quality (with occasional forays into threat assessment, reverse engineering, IoT, and other hackery to solve problems).

Marisa Tranchitella (mjt322@drexel.edu)

Marisa Tranchitella is an Information Security Analyst at the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. She holds a BS in Computing and Security Technology (2020), and is currently working on an MS in Educational Improvement and Transformation. Being the oldest standing member of her team, Marisa works primarily with users, developing Security Awareness training, running regular internal phishing simulations, and handling application or system security reviews. Marisa also helps support IT business operations, by facilitating IT service management growth within her organization. Having completed her own CCI Senior Project only last year (FreeEDR), Marisa is very excited to see what this year's teams have explored.

James Viscusi (james.viscusi@oracle.com)

James is a mission-oriented executive with a unique combination of proven leadership skills and deep technical expertise in the information technology and services industry. He brings a 20-year track record as a Database Administrator and Architect, successfully developing highly available manageability solutions for customers. Jim is an expert in information technology including Cloud Computing, Performance Tuning, Enterprise Management, Oracle Architecture, and Exadata Manageability solutions. He is also accomplished speaker with strong communication skills and extensive experience presenting at international conferences.

Chris Cera

Chris Cera is the CEO of Arcweb Technologies whose core focus is on democratizing digital healthcare through open source solutions. Arcweb is a certified B Corporation that has helped more than 100 companies, and won numerous honors for their work including Fast Company World Changing Ideas. Prior to Arcweb, Chris was the CTO and co-founder of Vuzit, a cloud document management software company that was acquired by Accusoft. Prior to Vuzit, Chris was employed as a software engineer for several companies including GSK and Traffic.com. Chris also co-founded Philly Startup Leaders, one of the city's largest non-profit organizations dedicated to entrepreneurs. Chris served on the Transition Advisory Committee for Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro in 2023, and the Special Committee on Regulatory Review and Reform for the City of Philadelphia in 2017. Chris has co-authored three awarded patents, numerous peer-reviewed publications, and holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science from Drexel University. He resides in the Queen Village neighborhood of Philadelphia with his wife, son, and daughter.

Angela V. Harris

Angela V. Harris, a proud native Washingtonian, is the Founder and CEO of 2638 Management Group, LLC, a leadership development and consulting firm. With over two decades of experience in Fortune 500 companies, Angela specializes in guiding clients through the complexities of the corporate landscape, ensuring they feel valued, recognized, and poised for career advancement.

An award-winning coach, Angela has shared her expertise at prestigious events, including South by Southwest (SXSW) and the Black Enterprise Wo men of Power Summit. Recognized as a 2023 top coach in Washington, D.C. by Influence Digest, Angela's intuitive approach offers clarity, direction, and positive support to her clients.Her proven track record demonstrates success in guiding individuals to elevate their performance, hone their leadership capabilities, and drive both personal and organizational growth. As the host of the F.L.O.W. (Fearlessly Leading Our Way) podcast, Angela amplifies the voices of Black women leaders, shedding light on their inspiring journeys and wisdom. Angela holds a Master of Science degree in Information Technology Leadership from La Salle University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems from Drexel University. Learn more about Angela at www.angelavharris.com.

Sam Hopkins

Sam Hopkins is a software engineer at Woodward McCoach Inc. He specializes in all areas of embedded system development from networking to microcontrollers. As a Drexel Electrical Engineering BS/MS 2017 graduate, he takes pride in his continued involvement in the Drexel coop program as a mentor and representative of WMI. In his spare time he enjoys woodworking, playing music, and working outside.

Robert Bruno

Mr. Robert Bruno is a Kyndryl Principal Architect, and a Director of Enterprise Architecture within the client facing Financial Services Market team of Kyndryl. Mr. Bruno has 32 years of Information Technology (IT) experience across multiple markets and industries and holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Drexel University and a Distinguished Certified Architect certification from The Open Group.

Mr. Bruno is a founding Kyndryl who, after 26 years with IBM, came over to Kyndryl from IBM during the 2021 spinoff from IBM for which Kyndryl was created as a new company. During his career, Mr. Bruno has worked directly as part of the IT organization of many different clients who outsourced their IT environments to Kyndryl/IBM. Mr. Bruno has extensive project experience in owning and leading the technical architecture and design of new technical solutions for mission critical workloads as well as having a deep understanding of managing IT environments.

About the Judges