User:Pat Palmer

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Since 2008, I have done system administration and programming for a group of algae scientists in the Phycology Section at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, where I wrote many web services such as this one which shows data about one algal species. For many years now, I have worked out of my home, part-time and with a flexible schedule.

Through the 2000's, I taught computer courses at the Univ. of Penn. and remained as a research associate in the UPenn CIS department until 2020.

I have an M. S. in computer science (Univ. of Tenn., 1983) and in 1984 became a member of technical staff at Bell Laboratories, where I worked on embedded systems, light-wave communications, and network operations systems. During the 80's and 90's, the company slowly fell apart and former colleagues scattered to the four winds. I hung on at Bell Labs until 1998.

Along the way, I got a master's degree in public sector management (Fels Center, Univ. of Penn., 1992).

In the late 1970's, I spent 2 years repairing telephone switches for GTE in southwest Virginia and worked in some of the last Strowger switching offices remaining in the United States. During that time, I also repaired electromechanical telephone switching systems made by Leich, that had so-called common control units for call routing--in effect, a fully electromechanical, special-purpose computer. I could see numbers being stored in registers as people dialed, which is a pretty good introduction to how computers work.

I have a B. A. in German, with a minor in English (Univ. of Tenn., 1974). I completed coursework required for a Ph D in Germanic linguistics (at the Univ. of Tenn.), reading Old High German, Old Norse, Icelandic, Middle High German, Afrikaans, Pennsylvania Dutch, Yiddish, various regional German dialects under direction from Professors Nordsieck and Kratz, and also studying Spanish, Latin, and Russian. I didn't complete that degree (switched to computer science, instead), but I read a lot of interesting literature along the way.

I have worked all over in this wiki, but mainly in the Computers workgroup. I formerly served on the CZ governing council, partly because no one else would, but also in hopes that we could somehow save the project.

User:Pat_Palmer/todo_list

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