Summary

Dr. Nurkkala has a deep and diverse academic background in high-performance parallel computing, parallel algorithms, natural language processing, and electrical engineering. His research work is heavily experimental, focused on the construction and characterization of large, complex, real-world implementations of non-trivial algorithms on large-scale parallel supercomputers.

His academic achievements are coupled with significant industrial experience, ranging from software engineering and software consulting to senior management of software research and development. His industrial work has emphasized applied computer science and mathematics, high-performance cluster computing, object-oriented design and development, on-the-metal system software, and reusable software components.

Education

Ph.D., Computer Science

University of Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN

1992–1996

• Research in parallel algorithms for highly unstructured problems, computational linguistics, natural language processing.
• Collaborated with the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Minor in Cognitive Science.
• Graduate School Fellow.
• Professor Vipin Kumar, academic adviser.
• GPA: 4.0 / 4.0.

M.S., Computer Science

University of Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN

1990–1992

• Research in parallel algorithms for natural language parsing.
• Minor in Cognitive Science.
• GPA: 4.0 / 4.0.

M.A., Theological Studies

Bethel Theological Seminary

St. Paul, MN

1988–1990

• Research in computational parsing of the Greek New Testament.
• Degree received cum laude.

B.S., Electrical Engineering

Michigan Technological University

Houghton, MI

1983–1985

• Specializations in digital design and Computer Science.
• Degree received with honor.

Computer Science Major

University of Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN

1979–1982

Academic Experience

Adjunct Lecturer

University of Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN

Jan–May 2007

• Taught CSci 5511: Artificial Intelligence I.

Research Assistant

University of Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN

1992–1993

• Research in parallel algorithms, high-performance supercomputing, natural language processing, use of computers in writing.

Adjunct Instructor of Computer Science

Bethel College

St. Paul, MN

Jan–May 1991

• Designed and taught an upper-division undergraduate course in Artificial Intelligence.

Instructor, Dept. of Computer Science

University of Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN

Sep–Dec 1990

• Taught an undergraduate service class in Fortran.

Industrial Experience

Senior Lead Engineer, Software

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems

Bloomington, MN

Apr 2004–Present

• Developed and maintained software build and documentation tools.
• Provided system support services on Linux, Cray platforms.
• Conducted internal training classes.

System Software Architect

Lawson Software

St. Paul, MN

Oct 2001–Mar 2004

• Java2 Enterprise Edition (BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere).
• Performance and scalability testing tools.
• Perl evangelist.

Member Technical Staff

Bravara Corporation

St. Paul, MN

May 2001–Oct 2001

• Worked on Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) software.

Senior Software Engineer

Zhone Technologies

Minneapolis, MN

Sep 2000–May 2001

• Software engineer, dynamic routing.
• Embedded dynamic routing protocols for broadband networking products.

Director, R&D

Net Perceptions

Minneapolis, MN

Jun 1999–Aug 2000

• Led team of senior researchers and Computer Scientists developing algorithms and software for electronic commerce, recommendations, and personalization.
• Responsible for the identification, development, and deployment of theory, algorithms, and software to maintain Net Perceptions' technological preeminence in its market space.
• Managed software patent process.

Principal Software Engineer

NEO Networks

Minneapolis, MN

1998–Jun 1999

• Developed system software for the Stream Processor high-performance parallel network routing and switching engine.
• Developed under and extended the VxWorks real-time operating system.
• Worked with various Internet protocols, standards, and network management protocols.

Vice President, Research

PowerCerv Corporation

Minneapolis, MN

1996–1998

• Responsible for integrating new and emerging technologies into the company's product and service businesses.
• Strong focus on reusable, component-based, object-oriented software application architecture.
• Researched, designed, prototyped, and developed new product software.
• Led a team of six senior research engineers.

Director, Tools R&D

PowerCerv Corporation

Minneapolis, MN

1993–1995

• Managed the design, development, and delivery of software tools products.
• Led a team of 24 software engineers and support staff.

System Software Engineer

ETA Systems

St. Paul, MN

1987–1989

• Developed system software for proprietary and Unix operating systems for the ETA¹⁰ supercomputer.
• Developed X Window System support for the ETA¹⁰ supercomputer.

Software Engineer

SPEED>S Corporation

Minneapolis, MN, Reston, VA

1983–1987

• Company co-founder.
• Designed and developed communications software.
• Developed Unify RDBMS applications.
• Unix system administrator.

Software Engineer

Collins Communications Systems Co.

St. Paul, MN

1980–1983

• Developed communications management software for digital telephone systems.

Consulting Experience

Software Engineer

Euler Solutions

Minneapolis, MN

Feb–Jun 1998

• Provided software development expertise in technology-driven accounts, focused on Unix, C/C++, Perl, and Java.
• Euler Solutions—Unix system administration (Unix, Apache Web Server).
• Carlson Wagonlit Travel—Reporting control and distribution (Unix, Perl, SQL).

Instructor

Euler Solutions

Minneapolis, MN

1988–1990 (various)

• Conducted training classes for users and software developers in a variety of Unix-based topics, including Unix fundamentals, shell programming, and various Unix tools.

Software Engineer

Artist Graphics

Roseville, MN

Jun–Aug 1991

• Ported the X Window System server to a custom graphics board under SCO Unix.

Software Engineer

Itasca Systems

Bloomington, MN

1989–1992 (various)

• Designed and developed C and C++ front ends and an OSF/Motif graphical user interface for the Itasca object database.

Software Engineer

Anderson O'Brien, Inc.

Roseville, MN

May–Aug 1989

• Ported a Computer-Aided Manufacturing package to the X Window System.

Software Engineer

Perkin-Elmer Corp.

Eden Prairie, MN

May–Aug 1986

• Designed and developed industrial process-control software.

Software Engineer

Source Telecomputing Corp.

McClean, VA

1981–1982

• Developed a microcomputer telecommunications package.

Software and Hardware Experience

	Operating Systems	Linux (RedHat 5.x–9.x, Slackware), Unix (BSD, System V, SunOS, Solaris, HPUX, IBM AIX), VxWorks RTOS, Windows
	Programming Languages	Perl, C, C++, Ruby, Java, Lisp, Unified Parallel C, Scheme, Fortran, Pascal, Prolog, Visual Basic, PowerBuilder
	Software Systems	Ruby on Rails, Java2 Enterprise Edition, BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere, ANTLR parser generator, Message Passing Interface (LAM, MPICH), Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM), X Window System, OSF/Motif
	Parallel and Distributed Computers	Cray XT3, Cray X1E, Linux/Beowulf Clusters, SGI Challenge Cluster, nCUBE 2, KSR 1, Connection Machine CM-5, Connection Machine CM-2, ETA10
	Web Technologies	HTTP, HTML, XML, XHTML, XSLT, CSS, DOM, Apache Web Server, Jakarta Ant, Jakarta Tomcat, Jakarta Struts, Template Toolkit
	Database Systems	MySQL, Oracle, Sybase, IBM DB2, Informix, Postgres, Unify, MS SQL Server, Itasca OODBMS
	Networking	TCP/IP suite, SNMP, RIP, OSPF, MPLS

Publications

	Tom Nurkkala, Parallel Algorithms for a Highly Unstructured Problem: Natural Language Parsing Using Tree Adjoining Grammar, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Minnesota, 1997.
	Tom Nurkkala, Application Adaptation for Rapid Change, Invited column, Software Development magazine, November, 1996.
	Tom Nurkkala and Vipin Kumar, A Parallel Parsing Algorithm for Natural Language Using Tree-Adjoining Grammar, Proceedings of the International Parallel Processing Symposium (IPPS), 1994.
	Tom Nurkkala and Vipin Kumar, The Performance of a Highly Unstructured Parallel Algorithm on the KSR1, Proceedings of the Scalable High Performance Computing Conference (SHPCC), 1994.
	Editor of Kumar, et al, Introduction to Parallel Computing: Design and Analysis of Algorithms (First edition), Benjamin Cummings, 1993.
	Tom Nurkkala, Rich Bergmann, and Vince McGowan, Extending the PowerBuilder Development Environment with Dependency Maintenance and Preprocessing, Proceedings of the Powersoft International User Conference, 1995.
	Tom Nurkkala, Effective Documentation for PowerBuilder Objects, Proceedings of the Powersoft International User Conference, 1994.

Professional Memberships and Awards

	University of Minnesota Graduate School Fellowship, 1990–1991
	Member, Association for Computing Machinery
	Member, IEEE Computer Society

© Copyright 2007 by Tom Nurkkala. All rights reserved.
Last modified: Thu Feb 8 11:18:48 CST 2007
On-line version at http://www.cs.umn.edu/~nurkkala/vitae.html