Boris N. Goldowsky

43 Russell Rd, Somerville, MA 02144 · (617) 416-8817 · boris@alum.mit.edu

Website: goldowsky.com/boris

Online resume: goldowsky.com/boris/resume

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/boris-goldowsky

SUMMARY

Technology leader specializing in making information accessible and useful to people, building feature-rich but flexible applications, and effective collaboration. Accomplishments include: efficiently realizing software for multiple research projects; forging a consistent architecture and cohesive team from independent groups with differing technologies; Agile transformation; running mission-critical projects; participating in development of web standards; launching and bringing to scale a startup website.

Recognized for:

• Effective leadership and mentoring with an emphasis on open communication.
• Cost-effective technology solutions; particular knowledge and interest in open-source software.
• Excellent communication with all parts of the organization.

EXPERIENCE

Principal Software Engineer

Participated in the Scrum team developing the organization’s products and supporting research projects. Mentored junior developers. Reviewed and approved code updates. Created architecture descriptions for new features.

Accomplishments:

• Led the development of multiple improvements to the Collaborative Learning User Environment (CLUE), including implementing bar graphs for linked datasets, significant additions to the graphing and sketching tools, and adding authorable questions with nested multi-modal answers (text, image, table, etc).
• Added automatic categorization of student responses in CLUE, using AI large language models.
• Participated in multiple National Science Foundation funded research projects, including technology leadership on the Data by Voice project which used AI to allow blind and low-vision users to manipulate and explore data.
• Led discussions on bringing more accessibility and Universal Design considerations into the organization’s practice.

Director of Technology

Overall technology leadership for the organization. Led internal development group and managed contractors working on CAST’s portfolio of R&D projects, organizational websites, and communication/collaboration tools.

Leadership activities:

• Member of CAST’s senior leadership group.
• Principal Investigator: Center on Inclusive Software for Learning. US Department of Education grant, 2017-2023. Responsible for $1m/year budget.
• Co-principal investigator: Universal Design of Inquiry-Based Middle and High School Science Curricula. National Science Foundation grant, 1997-2011.
• Participated in maintenance of the DAISY talking-book standard (ANSI/NISO Z39.86) and development of its successor (Z39.98).
• Member of National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) board.
• Advocated for, and then led the transition of the organization’s development processes to an Agile model.

Technology development:

• Oversaw the creation of dozens of applications (primarily web-based, some mobile apps) for research projects testing innovations in classroom delivery of literacy, math, science, and history curriculum.
• Oversaw architectural decisions, frameworks, and reusable components (eg, drawing tool, animated avatars, read-aloud functionality, data collection framework).
• Full-stack software engineering. Programming in Java, Javascript, and Python.
• Hired, supervised and mentored staff and contractors (front-end and back-end developers, QA testers, network engineer).
• Moved the organization from applications running on local servers to a fully containerized and cloud-based infrastructure.

Consulting in web publishing and XML-based process development. Clients included:

• Pearson Education
• Houghton-Mifflin Company
• Harvard Business School

Chief Technology Architect

Leader of a 20 person technology department responsible for all web site and back-office operations. Built a single technology organization from 5 existing teams supporting various business groups. Worked to streamline operations and increase collaboration. After acquisition, acted as liaison to technology leaders in parent company Pearson plc.

• Increased organizational flexibility through cross-training and mentoring of developers.
• Implemented common product lifecycle, procedures, and status reporting framework.
• Improved company-wide communication and reduced costs by centralizing functions.

Director of Engineering and Development

Led technology group: responsible for web site development and office information services.

• Launched Infoplease.com web site with complete contents of three print almanacs, dictionary and encyclopedia.
• Developed systems for publishing online and in print from single master content files.
• Implemented sophisticated site-wide search and subject taxonomy.
• Infoplease.com and companion site for kids (FactMonster) grew to encompass over 400,000 content-rich HTML pages and attract over 3 million visitors each month.

Database Developer

Converted reference books from print into richly structured SGML and HTML; built indexes; designed updating procedures. Programming in C++ and Perl.

ISO 9001 Internal Auditor: assisted in developing a company-wide quality system and monitoring its success.

EDUCATION

PhD: Psychology and Computer Science (Cognitive Science); MA: Psychology.

Doctoral Dissertation: learning of complex systems by children and adults; other research: mathematical and computer modeling of language learning.

Awarded 3-year National Science Foundation fellowship. Held positions as instructor for Lisp-based introduction to programming, section leader/TA, research assistant.

Spent 1990–91 school year as visiting researcher at University of Hawaii; studied concept learning in dolphins.

BS in Cognitive Science.

Year abroad at University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

COMPUTER SKILLS

Languages: Python, Java, Javascript, C, C++, Perl, Lisp, Scheme, shell scripting.

Frameworks: React, Django, Apache Wicket, PHP.

Accessibility (WCAG, Section 508), ARIA, Docker, Kubernetes, Google Cloud (GCP), Amazon Web Services (AWS), XML, HTML5, SQL, SVG, D3.

OTHER INTERESTS

Music (cello); folk dancing; scuba diving; bicycling; makerspaces; circus arts.