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Mark Essel's

Resume





special thanks and format credit Hakim El Hattab/@hakimel

Tools I love to work with

  • Languages:
    • python, php, javascript, nodejs, c++
    • swift/obj-c, ruby, Markup(html/css/md), php
    • sql (mysql/postgres), mongo queries, firebase queries
  • Frameworks/Libs: Nodejs, jQuery, Cairo, GraphicsMagick, FFmpeg, GPUImage, opencl/gl, AVFoundation, CoreGraphics, OpenGLES
  • Deployment: Amazon EC2/Beanstalk/Lambda, Heroku, Google App Engine
  • Comfortably familiar:
    • tools: d3.js, Rails, Sinatra, Django
    • Databases/Queries: I can adapt to whatever a team is using
  • Preferred Environments:

My Digital Shadow

What I've done before

  • Behavior tracking and prediction for optimal activities
  • Architected, implemented and deployed ML processing of user/item relationships both periodic and real time
  • Implemented and deployed (open source) 3D video simulation backend from images
  • Architected, developed and deployed a distributed collection of real time services in Node.js
  • Designed, implemented and deployed a custom, scalable, distributed, replicated geo cache using Redis and Node.js
  • Designed, implemented and deployed video rendering engines
  • Multiple roles in full stack web development using Javascript (node.js), Ruby, Python, and C++
  • Signal Analysis/Processing - Linear (Least Squares) & Non-Linear (parameterized)
  • Detection Algorithms, Infrared Image processing Temporal/Spectral Matched Filter
  • Classic Machine Learning Algorithms: Quadratic Classifier, Convex Hull
  • Protein Structure Search Analysis
  • Modeling of Atmospheric Gases, and IR sensor images

Professional Experience


Tek Horizons, Sept 2017 - Present

Founder at Tek Horizons

  • A consultancy founded on deliverying professional backend developer services
  • Fractional CTO/Technical Leadership
  • MVP Data fusion algorithm (voting)
  • Audio signal processing and deploying ML detection techniques
  • Lookahead traversal architecture for optimizing day planning with background build system + notifications
  • API, Socket Servers, Realtime Data
  • Custom applications: native and mobile web app backends, social data driven itinerary planning, optimal street routing, travel time matrix, real time geo spatial engines, video processing, custom apns/fcm push services
  • Documented, tested, and benchmarked deliverables

Dorsia, May 2023 - Feb 2024

ML/Backend Engineer at Dorsia

  • Designed and Deployed 3D Secure Asynchronous Payment Processing System
  • Reworked onboarding logic and flow to support temporary guest passes
  • Created weekly sanitized version of primary database
  • Generated reservation tracking system and UI to support frictionless connections

Welcome, Jan 2020 - May 2023

Tech Co-founder at Welcome

  • ML Realtime collaborative filter architecture
  • ML Realtime and Interval model training and http prediction services
  • ML Collaborative filter/Recommendation Engines
  • Backend work supporting our Data, API & CMS
  • Custom "Best Of" Scoring and Processing for Vetted
  • Image processing and video simulation service

Citizen (sp0n llc), Nov 2015 - Sept 2017

Technical Co-founder at Citizen (sp0n)

  • Architect: all backend services
  • API (express), JWT auth, fully documented and covered by tests
  • Custom data store: redis cache backed, replicated local application. 3D lat,lon,time queries
  • Implemented and deployed live video streaming platform (nodejs & service workers): variations using Wowza, Red5, and nginx-rtmp
  • Custom cross platform (iOS/Android) geo push architecture
  • Live stream push workers
  • Video post processing workers
  • Deployment (Heroku + AWS) and management (loggly, custom + heroku alerts, node ping)
  • Testing, benchmarking, load testing

Vimeo, April 2014 - Oct 2015

Principal Developer: for Cameo product (Fast Society)

  • Designed and implemented structured theme scripts, gl shader effects, and font styling for Cameo video rendering (swift/opengl)
  • Closely worked with AVComposition, slow motion video segments, audio mixing, and gl transform handling for arbitrary source video
  • Designed and developed background video uploader for Cameo mobile app (swift/objc) with data validation to Google Cloud Storage
  • Optimized locally exported video, tuning SDAVAssetExportSession and worked with server team for high quality streams
  • Troubleshooting issues across the Cameo mobile app (swift/fabric)
  • Crafted tools essential to our backend video processing architecture (c++11/libffmpeg)
  • Architected and implemented our video rendering engine c++11/opencl/opengl, visual effects in opencl/gl, and structured script engine (c++11)
  • Identify and resolve issues in our cloud infrastructure (node/c++) and dedicated hardware. Regular use of Kibana/Elastic Search/Syslog for debugging distributed processing

Cameo (Fast Society), April 2012 - March 2014

Chief of Research and Development: Algorithm and software development to support video processing toolchain.

  • Build out backend video processing architecture (tools, dataflow, encoding)
  • Optimize video processing pipeline and instance utilization
  • Stability testing multiple components
  • Ported JavaScript animation library to C++ opengl rendering engine
  • Automated new visual animations/effects
  • Aid in configuring and deploying our cloud infrastructure (basics, build error/dependency, migrated from fabric to puppet)
  • Everything else our startup required

Photon Research Associates, Jan. 1996 - April 2012

Senior Staff Scientist core responsibilities: Algorithm and software development, implementation and testing.

  • Design of real time hyperspectral anomaly detection algorithms as well as temperature feature extraction for new LWIR sensor in C++ using Visual .NET and delivered to customer on Linux platform
  • Implemented real time PDB search tool to identify structures similar to specified structures (Kinase)
  • Implemented and demonstrated Spectral Matched Filter (SMF) algorithm for target detection in a complex target/background scene
  • Implemented Atmospheric Correction algorithms in C++ and processed AVIRIS data

Photon Research Associates, Jan. 1996 - April 2012

  • Developed algorithms for the IR Sensor Study - Algorithm Development Program that demonstrated advanced detection and identification techniques against measured CBD and CBE data sets
  • Participated in development of Cirrus cloud detection and characterization for HYMSMO program
  • Developed a mid-course discrimination simulation for SBIRS-Low and performance simulation in order to evaluate the effectiveness of acquisition, tracking, and discrimination in clutter environments

Photon Research Associates, Jan. 1996 - April 2012

  • Developed and simulated mid course discrimination algorithms for the Navy Theater Wide COEA (Navy Theater Ballistic Missile Defense)
  • Developed Monte Carlo simulations of IR sensor(s) and target scenarios over variations in launch, sensor and solar geometry
  • Simulated SBIRS-High, SBIRS-Low and a number of novel staring/scanning sensor designs and demonstrated performance against Technical Intelligence targets, developed code for integrating targets into backgrounds, incorporated a matched filter into high fidelity simulation and control logic for executables that provide parallel processing

Education & Publications

Formal Education

  • MS, Electrical Engineering, SUNY @ Stony Brook, 1997
  • BS, Physics, SUNY @ Stony Brook, 1995

Publications

  • "Midcourse Clutter Mitigation Using Multi-Spectral, Subspace Projection Techniques", Julian Brody, Mark Essel, Brad Flanders, Henry Phan, Tony Sommese, MSS, January, 2003
  • "Atmospheric Correction Using Imbedded Models (ACUIM)", Tony Sommese and Mark Essel, SPIE, March, 2000
  • "Background Clutter Rejection Using Generalized Regression Neural Networks" , C. Ralph Waters, Tony Sommese, Mark Essel and Capt. Brian Hibbeln, IEEE, March, 2000
  • "Signal Subspace Processing Of 4D Remote Sensing Data", Ralph Waters, Tony Sommese, Mark Essel, Stephen Mack and Capt. Brian Hibbeln, IEEE, March, 1999
  • "Super Resolution and Image Enhancement Using Novelty Concepts", C.Ralph Waters, Tony Sommese, Dave Weiss, Mark Essel & Capt. Brian Hibbeln IEEE, March 1998

Contact Information