Stephen P. Tarzia

Ford Engineering Design Center, room 2-221

2133 Sheridan Road

Evanston, IL 60208

education

Northwestern University, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Evanston, IL

Enrolled in PhD program, Sep. 2006 to present. Advised by Prof. Peter Dinda.

MS in Computer Engineering and Systems division: GPA 4.0, Oct. 2008. Advised by Prof. Robert P. Dick


Columbia University, Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. New York, NY

BS in Computer Engineering, Magna Cum Laude: cumulative GPA 3.80, Feb. 2005

publications and presentations

professional service

awards

research experience

Empathic Systems research, Northwestern University; Evanston, IL; August 2008 to January 2010

Sonar-based power management system for laptop computers

We detect presence of computer users using sound rather than relying on mouse and keyboard input. [report] [software]

Supervised by Professors Robert Dick, Peter Dinda and Gokhan Memik

VLSI-CAD research, Northwestern University; Evanston, IL; Fall 2007 to June 2008

Flow-based voltage assignment for High-level Synthesis

We developed an efficient algorithm to assign discrete voltages to functional units during High-Level Synthesis. [report]

Supervised by Professors Robert Dick and Hai Zhou

Science of Design research, Northwestern University; Evanston, IL; Fall 2006 to Summer 2007

Formal Methods for Unrealiable Systems

Modeled a simple consensus protocol using the TLA+ language and TLC model-checker [report]. Wrote a probabilistic model checking module for TLC [report].

Supervised by Professors Robert Dick and Hai Zhou

Metrobots group, Columbia University; New York, NY; Summer, Fall 2004

Software Development, Overhead camera 2D object tracking

Enhanced an open-source real-time video processing and vision server (Mezzanine) for use with robotic soccer. Integrated the vision server with existing agent-control software. [report] [software]

Supervised by Professor Elizabeth Sklar

teaching experience

Amundsen High School and School of the Arts (H.S.); Chicago, IL; Mar 31 and Apr 30, 2009

Guest science teacher.

Taught labs in earth science class through Northwestern's Meaningful Science Consortium. Supervised by Leslie Lepeska

Northwestern University; Evanston, IL; Spring 2007

Teaching assistant for EECS311: Data Structures course. Supervised by Professor Chris Riesbeck

Trevor Day School; New York, NY; Jan 2005 to May 2005

Lab a dab a do intern

Developed prototype educational software applications in Macromedia Director and MS Visual Studio.

Supervised by Stephen H. Lewis

Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP); New York, NY; Spring, Summer 2004

Robotics teacher

Taught high school students computer programming using Lego Mindstorms robotics. Provided classroom assistance for teachers using robotics in Elementary and Middle school classrooms. Assisted in training NYC teachers in the effective classroom use of robotics in a summer workshop.

Supervised by Professor Elizabeth Sklar

industry experience

Rise Telecom; Chicago, IL; Jan 2006 to Aug 2006

Chief Engineer

Built and maintained a complete VoIP service-provider platform using Asterisk, Apache, MySQL, and PHP.

Emergent Communications; New Caanan, CT; Jan 2005 to Aug 2006

Solutions Engineer

Evaluated and reported on various SIP-based VoIP products. Provided installation and maintenance support for 3Com and Cisco VoIP products. General Linux system administration.