Darrell Ferguson

3265 St Joseph Blvd Unit 114

Orleans, ON, K1E 3Y2

613-834-8143

OBJECTIVE:

Java programmer seeking to develop leading edge software solutions by exploiting my experience in both software development and computer science research.

TECHNICAL SKILLS:

Programming Languages: Java, JavaScript, C#, C/C++, Smalltalk, Scheme, Prolog

Development Tools: Eclipse, JUnit, Apache Tomcat, SQL (MySQL, Oracle, HyperSQL), XML, Lucene, libsvm, OpenNLP, jQuery

Areas of Expertise: Object Oriented Analysis and Design, Requirement Analysis, Evolutionary Computing (Genetic Algorithms, Genetic Programming, Artificial Life), Machine Learning (Text Classification), Data Mining

EXPERIENCE:

Applications Development Specialist

National Research Council Canada, 2003-2012

Developed a wide range of software to implement NRC research results. This software has been transferred to government and commercial healthcare clients. As part of this work, I participated in research projects in the areas of machine learning, data mining, and natural language processing.

Performed requirements analysis, developed use cases, and implemented prototypes and visual demonstrations of new research and technology.
Wrote software for research experiments and contributed to peer reviewed publications of the results.
Developed libraries and aided clients with the integration of these solutions into their software.
Developed and maintained systems used by research biologists, Ottawa Public Health officials, and health related call centres.
As one example of my projects at NRC, I developed a collection of Java Servlets that performed natural language processing, text classification, data extraction, and web scraping. These Servlets were a significant part of a system installed at a health related call centre and used for data monitoring as well as health surveillance.

Teaching Assistant

Carleton University, 1998-2002

Helped develop course content and course notes.
Lectured classes and conducted laboratory tutorials.

Research Assistant

Carleton University, 1999

Created an XML specification for representing software design patterns and created an online pattern repository.

Set up and maintained a Linux server with Java Servlets for running the repository.
Presented a peer reviewed paper on the XML specification and repository at the 2001 International Conference on Internet Computing.

Software Engineer

Corel Corporation, 1998

Developed one of the first commercial efforts for dynamically publishing databases to the web using Java Servlets.

Software Developer

AMS Management Systems, 1997

Participated in the development of client/server purchasing systems for Public Works and Government Services Canada and Natural Resources Canada using PowerBuilder.

EDUCATION:

Master's degree in Computer Science, Carleton University, 2002

Bachelor of Computer Science (Software) – Highest Honours, Carleton University, 2000

AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS:

2011 – OCRI Health Innovation Award (as part of the ILI Watch team)

2005 – NRC-IIT General Award (as a member of the LitMiner project)

2000 – Nortel Networks Scholarship (renewed in 2001)

1999 – NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award

1995 – Carleton University Undergraduate Entrance Scholarship

PUBLICATIONS:

Refereed Contributions

D. Ferguson, N. Vinson, J. Morin, J. Martin, S. McClinton, R. Davies (2009) Identifying ILI Cases from Chief Complaints: Comparing Keyword and Support Vector Machine Methods. Proceedings of the 2009 International Society for Disease Surveillance Eighth Annual Conference.
D. Deugo, D. Ferguson (2004) Evolution to the Xtreme: Evolving Evolutionary Strategies Using a Meta-Level Approach. Proceedings of the 2004 Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC2004).
D. Deugo, D. Ferguson (2004) Achieving Self-Stabilization Using a Meta-GA. Proceedings of the 2004 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IC-AI'04).
D. Ferguson, D. Deugo (2001) Call with Current Continuation Patterns. Proceedings of the Eighth Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs (PloP'2001).
D. Deugo, D. Ferguson (2001) XML Specification for Design Patterns. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Internet Computing (IC'2001).

Other Publications

D. Ferguson (2002) Evolution to the Xtreme: Evolving Evolutionary Strategies Using A Meta-Level Approach. Master's thesis, School of Computer Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.

Non-refereed Contributions

D. Ferguson, D. Deugo (2000) A First Draft of an XML Declaration for Patterns. Presented to the Pattern Refactoring Workshop at the ACM Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages & Applications (OOPSLA), October 2000.