about

I'm Gemma. I'm a developer, student, gamer, violinist and massive sci-fi geek.

Coding for money

I used to work for NASA through the Center for Radiophysics and Space Research at Cornell University, automating data analysis and storage, and building searchable database interfaces for researchers on a few missions:

After that, I worked on cQuencer, Bell and Howell's cross-platform postal mailing solution for the enterprise. Enterprises like banks. And phone companies. You know, the folks that send you junk mail and bills. You're welcome.

These days I spend most of my time on web applications for Social & Scientific Systems, helping improve public health and health research all over the world.

Coding for free

Once upon a time, I had to use StarTeam. I hated it. On the other hand, I love git, so I had some fun with the git-starteam project (lack of Java chops notwithstanding).

Linus Torvalds' rant against Github commits inspired my first extension for Chrome: the monobar.

I recently fell in love with both AngularJS and Koding, so I made a Koding app for AngularJS! Because what else could I do, really.

Learning

I'm working on a Masters in Software Engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology. I've also made a habit of registering for things on Coursera and forgetting about them.

Back in the day I was a musician: my undergraduate degree is a B.Mus in Violin Performance.

Gaming

I play World of Warcraft with some proficiency, and Halo 4 with less. I spent a decent amount of time in Star Wars: The Old Republic (which I miss now that all my compadres stopped playing) and Guild Wars 2, and Steam sales are a constant source of wallet leakage. Portal 2 is a favorite, as is Dishonored, Tomb Raider, Mass Effect, Mirror's Edge, Myst, etc. Skyrim is spectacular but the Xbox loading screens kill my soul. I loved Gone Home; if you think it's "not a real game" you're off your rocker.

social