Josh W. Email & Phone Number

Beep, beep, beep, whirr . . . and just like that, its four propellers buzz-humming in the breezy afternoon air, my new drone is aloft. Within moments, the grassy field of my local park gives way to views of tree limbs, then treetops, then whole neighborhoods unfolding toward the horizon coming into view. . . This was me, just last winter, launching my drone on one of its first flights. That feeling of wonder, optimism, and expanding possibilities has stuck with me, and helped to propel me as I take a leap of faith to step outside my comfort zone–pivoting from a successful career as a university professor to pursue an exciting new path as a software developer. I have enjoyed my time in academia: teaching and mentoring hundreds of students, accruing several publications to my name, as well as numerous conference paper presentations, and taking complex projects from inception to launch and beyond. In particular, I take great joy in the co-founding of Green Humanities , which has allowed me to collaborate closely with my co-editor, as well as a distributed team of editorial and advisory board members all over the world, bringing green scholarship and environmental awareness to a global audience in an open-access online format. It also gave me a first real taste of the power and possibility of going deep with technology . . .Reflecting on my professional arc, the through-line has come into focus ever more clearly. Monkey-swinging through the dictionary as a young boy, or using a mini-screwdriver tip to untie a nearly unsolvable knot, I am often drawn to complex problems, and feed on the excitement of succeeding in a difficult, but worthwhile task. I can recall vividly my first trip to Japan, leveraging the 200 kanji I had learned by then–a fraction of the 2,000 needed for basic literacy–to traverse an unfamiliar land. That experience, and others like it, has prepared me surprisingly well to write and parse complex conditional logic, and absorb the unfamiliar syntax of new computing languages. After all, at least all of the keywords are in English! As I pivot now, from teaching and scholarly research, to the beginnings of a career in software engineering, I’m excited to join a team of curious, passionate professionals with opportunities for continual learning and growth. If you would like to connect, please reach out!