Updated on 3/14/2010

Benjamin R. Cowley
Education: Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA
Sophomore of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Bridgeport High School Bridgeport, WV
Diploma with Highest Honors (4.0 GPA (UW)) 2008

Experience:

• SI Leader for Physics I for Engineering Students with Academic Development, holding two weekly sessions for students to promote collaborative learning; January 2010 to Present
• EXCEL Leader for Concepts of Math (proof-based math) providing Academic Development's supplemental instruction to students currently enrolled in the class; September 2009 to Dec 2009
• Internship and Research at L-3 Communications IV&V Facility in junction with University of Minnesota developing requirements-based coverage for Critical Systems using StateRover and Java PathFinder; May 2009 to August 2009 (12 weeks)
• FASA Tutor for Pittsburgh disadvantaged 7th graders (7 hours a week) teaching math and reading while being a mentor; September 2008 to May 2009 (2 semesters)
• Internship at L-3 Communications (40 hours a week) reviewing C++ code for the James Webb Space Telescope; June 2008 to August 2008 (7 weeks)
• Part-time Page at Bridgeport City Public Library putting books away, helping patrons, (6 to 11 hours a week); 12-2005 to Present (3 years)

Skills/Projects:

• Programming languages: C, MATLAB, Java, C++, Assembly, Perl, CSH, HTML, and VRML
• ECE Core courses: Semiconductors and Circuit Analysis, Signals and Systems, Computer Systems (C and assembly), Structure and Design of Digital Systems, Neural Computation
• Programmed an 8-to-3-to-8 encoder/decoder neural network using back propagation in C (2009)
• Created a Sudoku solver that could solve “Evils” in seconds in both C and Java (2009)
• Designed a Virtual Reality Modeling Language presentation for hydrogen fuel cells (2008)
• Participated in the ESPN Winning Formula Challenge, sponsored by Top Coder, creating an algorithm that would accurately predict NCAA college football games for an entire season with 68% accuracy (2008)
• Worked with robotics, hydrogen fuel cells, a trebuchet, and an Mp3 speaker hat

Academic Achievements / Extracurricular Activities:

• CMU CIT Dean’s List: Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2009
• Member of Lambda Sigma, a volunteer sophomore honor’s organization
• Carnegie Mellon University Chess Team First Board in the Pittsburgh Chess League
• CMU Robotics Club
• Learning Polish

High School Academic Achievements / Extracurricular Activities:

• 2-time 1st in State for quiz bowl
• 3-time 1st in state for Junior Engineering Technical Society’s TEAMS competition
• 3rd in Nation for TEAMS, Division 5 Varsity School, 2008
• 3-time WV Scholastic State Chess Champion (high school)
• 1st , 3rd, and 4th in State for Department of Energy science bowl, team captain
• 1st in Nation for National Science Bowl hydrogen fuel cell car King of the Hill challenge, team captain
• National Merit Scholar
• 1st Place in the 2008 Captain Everett Norton Applied Mathematical Concepts Competition VRML Design contest, winning $1000, a new laptop, and $1000 for the school’s math department
• National Youth Science Camp participant (month long camp in WV with nation’s top science students)
• Participated in the ESPN Winning Formula Challenge, sponsored by Top Coder, creating an algorithm that would accurately predict NCAA college football games for an entire season
• Member of the CMU Robotics Club and CMU Chess Club

Interests

• My primary interests are the “cultivation and nurture” of artificial neural networks. These massively parallel-computing systems could launch technology into whole new fields. Specifically, I plan to implement artificial neural networks with physical circuits (rather than computer simulation) and discover the possibilities/limitations of these fascinating systems. My dream is to beat the Turing test for artificial intelligent systems.

Recommendations will be provided upon request. U.S. Citizen.