Monica Spisar

Software engineer. Data champion. AI enthusiast & critic. Art & design speak to me.

Backstory

My professional pursuits have spanned industries and skills sets - from scientific & engineering research to small business ownership to operations & external liaison work in a large institution. I've initiated and lead projects, and also performed long-term, front-line work solving complex technical challenges. As with most folks, many of my most formative experiences don't fit on a résumé (ask and I'm happy to share!).

Formal education anchors my technical skills; it broadened my horizons in many ways but was, by no means, the end of learning - and, in many things, not even the beginning.

A few of my defining qualities: a vivid sense of curiosity . a powerful affinity for challenges . an aptitude for math/science . a creative streak . a love of building, creating . an equal love of listening, contemplating, understanding deeply . a strong desire to nurture the intrinsic potential of my fellow humans.

University of Michigan . PhD, Biomedical Engineering - Medical Imaging

University of Toronto . BSc, Physics

[ Résumé ]

Fast forward

Motivated, in part, by the promise of a broader scope of impact, I eventually found my way to working with the interwebs. My technical education and experience eased a transition to software engineering & AI research. I now spend time working across the stack and learning all things computer science-y; I also have a keen interest in ethics in relation to AI. Opportunities to work on feature-rich web apps, AI, security, and the software infrastructure that powers it all are most welcome.

Coordinating with a great team to accomplish meaningful objectives makes me happy. I jump at opportunities to learn from brilliantly insightful colleagues, and to contribute to goals which exceed the sum of their parts.

Participating on projects committed to maintaining psychological safety for all team members is a priority. It's heartening that data consistently shows that what's great for people is also great for projects!

Toy box

I'm grateful on a daily basis for the tremendous resources shared by the generous folks active in the open source community. A few of the tools I use regularly: Ruby, Python, React, Rails, Node.js, PostgreSQL. And I dabble in Go, Elixir, and Keras (on TensorFlow).

Long ago, I programmed in C; not quite as long ago, I used MATLAB extensively. For years, I worked with a variety of sensors and lasers. And, once upon a time, I used to create actual, tangible things in the woodshop, the electronics shop, the metalshop, and the darkroom.

Looking ahead

My professional interests converge on the artful interrogation and application of data. Topics on my radar include the future of artificial intelligence and the importance of data quality, contextualization, and security. My overarching objective is to lend my skills to projects with potential for widespread positive social impact.

Along those lines, I'm developing a platform to support small scale enterprises in tapping into the power of machine learning and AI. Ideally, it will be useful to social entrepreneurs and independent businesses. I'm grateful for the privilege of supporting others in their goals while pursuing my own.

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