Nathan D. Forster Email & Phone Number

As a Sr. Program Manager at Southwest Research Institute, I lead a team of software developers and engineers who design, implement, and maintain automation systems and data analytics solutions for various R&D testing scenarios. With over 20 years of experience in this field, I have successfully overseen and delivered more than 70 automation system deployments and more than 100 data analysis package deployments across different use cases, such as drivetrain, battery, engine, emissions, combustion, and chassis dyno testing.My mission is to provide software solutions that enable our clients to get more value out of their work with less effort and more flexibility. I am always thinking about the future needs and challenges of our applications, and how to incorporate quality and efficiency improvement methods and technical architecture best practices into our software development and deployment processes. I also enjoy negotiating and arranging priorities with our clients, and empowering them with customized and adaptable software plug-ins that enhance their data reproducibility, validation, and visualization capabilities.

• 

  Senior Program Manager

  Southwest Research Institute

  Oct 2003 - Present - San Antonio, Texas, United States

  Hands-on Leader and Architect of Test Automation for R&D Testing of Electro-Mechanical Systems and Components:* Formulate strategic vision* Curate backlog of projects for system advancement and continuous improvement.* Manage software development and deployment support teams* Negotiate and arrange priorities* Oversee and maintain 97 automation system deployments (and growing)* Drive implementation of quality and efficiency improvements* Process development and improvement for enhanced operational and team dependabilityInnovator of Data Analytics Solutions:* Oversee and maintain 100 data analysis package deployments (and growing)* Expansion of data analytics capabilities to extract deeper insights from acquired data* Advance data governance and warehousing to create additional avenues for applying BI analyticsUse Case Deployment Types (so far):+ Drivetrain Testing+ Battery Testing+ Hydrogen Fuel Cell Testing+ Engine and Emissions Testing+ Combustion Analysis+ Bearing Test Rig+ On-Track vehicle speed profile control using SwRI DEVCon(TM) capability+ Chassis Dyno Testing using SwRI DEVCon(TM) capability+ In-Vehicle Data Acquisition and Visualization+ Supervisory and Automation System for SwRI ECTO-Lab(TM)+ LFE Calibration Stand+ Evap Canister Loading Stand+ … more are on the way!