Ben Burkholder — Portfolio

Summary

Ben Burkholder is a full stack .NET developer with a three-decade career spanning diverse industries, from military hardware to telecommunications and consumer electronics. Focused on building scalable and resilient solutions, consistently prioritize clean architecture and testability to ensure long-term maintainability and performance. Expertise lies in designing and implementing complex systems leveraging Microsoft technologies, including ASP.NET Core, Azure, and C#. A unique background combining technical depth with a pragmatic approach to problem-solving allows for effective leadership and innovation across development teams.

Skills

Languages 6 skills

C# Python .NET Framework Java C/C++ .NET core

AI / Machine Learning 15 skills

Ollama OpenAI API LLM Prompt Engineering Multi-Agent Orchestration LangGraph LangChain Agentic AI Tooling Vector Embeddings LLM Pipeline Orchestration Graph-based Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) Knowledge Graph Reasoning LLM Tool Calling / Function Invocation ChromaDB / FAISS Vector Store LangChain SQL Agent (SQLDatabase Toolkit) Pydantic

Desktop & Mobile Development 12 skills

ZXing QR Code Scanning Cross-Platform DependencyService Pattern Windows Runtime Background Tasks Xamarin.Forms WinUI 3 Universal Windows Platform (UWP) Windows Forms (WinForms) WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) System Tray Application Development Custom WPF Control Library Development Windows Shell COM Interop .NET MAUI

Web & API Development 19 skills

RESTful API Design TLS / HTTPS Web Scraping & Browser Automation gRPC / Protocol Buffers HttpClientFactory UDP Multicast Programming TCP Socket Programming Custom Binary Protocol Design WCF Service Development WCF Duplex Callback Contracts WebSocket Client Communication FastAPI WebSocket Server (FastAPI/Starlette) Custom JSON Serialization ASP.NET Core / Kestrel Hosting Real-Time gRPC Streaming (IAsyncEnumerable) Razor View Engine OData v3 Client (WCF Data Services) REST Assured

.NET & Framework Ecosystem 21 skills

CommunityToolkit.Mvvm LiveChartsCore.SkiaSharpView.Maui OllamaSharp Microsoft.Extensions.AI CommunityToolkit.Maui .NET IoT Libraries (Iot.Device.Bindings) Microsoft Semantic Kernel QuestPDF Portable Class Library (PCL) protobuf-net System.Reactive (Rx.NET) MailKit Newtonsoft.Json EPPlus (Excel Generation) FFImageLoading.Maui OxyPlot .NET Micro Framework (NETMF) ASP.NET MVC 5 ASP.NET Identity XML Data Processing Serenity BDD

Databases 8 skills

Graph Data Modeling Cypher Query Language SQLite MySQL SQL Server Redis Neo4j SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

DevOps & Tooling 13 skills

GitHub Linux / systemd Android APK Signing & Distribution Multi-Platform App Store Publishing Windows Service Deployment MSIX Packaging & Code Signing Windows Performance Counters ClickOnce Deployment Azure DevOps CI/CD Pipelines Docker / Docker Compose Jenkins Bamboo Maven

Software Architecture 16 skills

Message-Driven Architecture Async/Await & Task Parallel Library Plugin Architecture Provider Pattern Dependency Injection Proxy Pattern HTTP Middleware & Pipeline Customization Cross-Platform Shared Library Design Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) State Machine Architecture Observer / Pub-Sub Pattern Parallel Programming MVVM Architecture Cross-Platform Hardware Identification BackgroundService Lifecycle Management Self-Organizing Data Structures

Security 12 skills

SSL/TLS PKI & Certificate Authority Design CMS (Cryptographic Message Syntax) RSA Cryptography AES Symmetric Encryption PKCS#10 CSR Generation & Signing PKI & X.509 Certificate Management Mutual TLS / Client Certificate Authentication Custom Encryption Layering Active Directory RBAC enforcement Active Directory Integration BouncyCastle Cryptography Library

ERP & Industrial Systems 8 skills

Enterprise Database Schema Reverse-Engineering PCBA Manufacturing Process Knowledge FactoryLogix MES Integration IPMI/BMC configuration Epicor ERP Integration SAP ERP Integration Legacy ERP Integration (OpenEdge/Progress) PXE boot image orchestration

Embedded & Firmware 22 skills

GPIO Programming (.NET IoT) Raspberry Pi Deployment SPI Bus Communication I2C / SMBus Interface Design Raspberry Pi Hardware Platform IPMI (Out-of-Band Hardware Management) PXE Boot Management Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4) Carrier Board Design PCIe Interface Design Custom Firmware Framework Design Netduino Hardware Platform Interrupt-Driven I/O WiFi Module Integration (GainSpan GS1011) Multi-board Embedded System Design FPGA programming OrCAD schematic entry, Verilog HDL for FPGA/ASIC designs Verilog Real-Time Signal Processing Serial Port / COM Instrument Control Raw Network Packet Capture (PcapDotNet / WinPcap) DHCP Protocol Parsing Real-Time Telemetry Visualization

Hardware Design & EDA 7 skills

Eagle PCB Design PCB Layout & Routing Gerber / CAM / BOM Manufacturing Output KiCAD PCB Design Custom Symbol & Footprint Library Development Multi-Sheet Schematic Design OrCAD PCB Design

Power Electronics 15 skills

MPPT Solar Charge Controller Design Battery Management System (BMS) Design Texas Instruments Power ICs Buck-Boost Converter Design Galvanic Isolation Circuit Design Linear Regulator & LDO Design Texas Instruments BQ25xxx Battery Charger ICs Multi-Cell Battery Pack Management (Li-Ion / LiFePO4) Power MOSFET Selection & Gate Drive Design Energy Harvesting Circuit Design USB Power Delivery (USB PD 3.0) Hardware Design Isolated Op-Amp / Differential Amplifier Design Precision ADC Integration (Delta-Sigma) Precision Voltage Reference Design Current & Power Measurement (INA-series)

Experience

Senior Application Developer Kimball Electronics Tampa, FL · 2023 – 2025

Delivered a complete ecosystem of production tools for a high-volume PCBA manufacturing facility, encompassing AI/LLM applications, real-time telemetry dashboards, and critical MES/SAP integrations. Developed six AI chat agents, a gRPC proxy architecture, and WPF/MAUI desktop tools that dramatically reduced manufacturing workflows, all underpinned by a shared library of 500+ EF Core entities. This resulted in significant efficiency gains and improved operational visibility across the entire facility.

Developed six production AI chat applications using Python, LangChain ReAct, and GPT-4o-mini, enabling natural-language SQL querying and real-time token streaming via custom WebSocket bridges.
Built an enterprise WPF LLM desktop client integrating Active Directory, live AI token streaming, and osTicket MySQL querying for context-aware helpdesk support.
Reduced PCBA defect triage time from 5-6 minutes to seconds by reverse-engineering a FactoryLogix MES schema and building a WPF serial-number tracing tool.
Architected a production gRPC proxy Windows Service on Kestrel utilizing protobuf-net, Rx.NET, and embedded TLS for real-time telemetry across factory automation services.
Developed a .NET MAUI operations dashboard streaming live factory telemetry via gRPC server-streaming and distributed via MSIX/AppInstaller for zero-touch deployment.
Created a cross-platform .NET MAUI diagnostic utility rendering FactoryLogix MES and SAP ERP data side-by-side, backed by a gRPC Worker Service and 300+ EF Core entity models.
Engineered GrpcLib, a shared .NET class library centralizing 500+ EF Core entities reverse-engineered from ten SQL Server schemas, serving as the unified data backbone for all applications.
Automated application deployments and accelerated release cycles through Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines for the factory automation service suite.
Designed and maintained SAP-to-FactoryLogix MES integration services via Windows Services, real-time dashboards, and an authenticated SAP REST API client to minimize downtime.

QA Analyst Point & Pay, LLC Oldsmar, FL · 2018 – 2020

Developed a comprehensive automated QA infrastructure from inception, leveraging Java, Selenium, and REST Assured within a Serenity BDD framework. Reverse-engineered undocumented production database schemas to create minimal, reproducible test databases, enabling rapid and reliable test execution. Integrated the full suite into a Maven/Jenkins/Bamboo CI/CD pipeline, achieving fully automated regression testing.

Reverse-engineered undocumented production database schemas to construct minimal, reproducible base test databases for consistent test runs.
Implemented Serenity BDD with Gherkin/Cucumber, generating JUnit tests and self-updating Living Documentation for continuous test visibility.
Containerized test environments in Docker and orchestrated parallel execution on AWS ECS/Fargate to eliminate bottlenecks and ensure environment isolation.
Integrated the test suite into the Maven + Jenkins + Bamboo CI/CD pipeline, automating regression runs on every commit.
Developed custom HTML/JavaScript tooling to automate edge-case scenarios, adopted by the entire QA team.

Freelance / Research & Development bbApplied Technology, LLC Dunedin, FL · 2014 – 2018

Founded bbApplied Technology, LLC to pursue independent R&D across software, embedded systems, and hardware design, delivering commercial-grade products and research prototypes. Architected end-to-end solutions spanning encrypted communication, network security, real-time sensor intelligence, IoT, and power electronics. Consistently self-directed full-stack architecture across diverse domains, leveraging .NET technologies and hardware design expertise.

Developed and launched a fully self-hosted, end-to-end encrypted messaging platform (CryptoMessenger) utilizing a three-layer BouncyCastle CMS with mutual TLS and Pi-XOR encryption for zero server visibility.
Architected BbSecureStream, a sessionless PKI authentication system for UDP multicast networks employing CMS-signed responses and a proxy 'vortex' pattern for anonymous upstream communication.
Engineered the Concept Layer Compute (CLC) framework, a real-time intelligence architecture leveraging a Neo4j graph journal and gRPC streaming for autonomous sensor concept processing and LLM bridge queries.
Designed production-ready power electronics hardware, including MPPT solar charge controllers, lithium BMS HATs, and a Raspberry Pi CM4 carrier board, generating fabrication-ready Gerber/CAM output.
Built ZnBrDaqHelper, a UWP DAQ control application for flow battery research, incorporating custom serial protocols, EF Core persistence, and live OxyPlot visualization.
Decomposed backend infrastructure into purpose-specific WCF REST microservices, including a PKI CA service and a unified cross-platform push notification dispatch layer with client certificate authentication.
Delivered cross-platform solutions leveraging PCL/Portable Class Library and .NET Standard shared cores to enable platform-specific behavior across Xamarin.Forms, UWP, iOS, Android, and Windows.
Developed BbLoRa, an edge IoT telemetry system pairing a LoRa radio base station with a .NET 6 microservice stack on Raspberry Pi, integrating System.Device.Gpio, Docker, and a WinUI 3 client.

Early Career 1995 – 2014

Military Server Hardware (OEM) 9 yrs

Software Consultant / QA Automation Architect — Germane Systems 2009 – 2014
IT Consultant / Automation Engineer — SteelCloud, Inc. 2005 – 2009

Developed and deployed production-grade distributed systems within a military server hardware OEM environment, evolving from contractor to full-time engineer. Architected and built a fully automated hardware burn-in and factory acceptance testing platform, eliminating manual processes and significantly improving efficiency. Leveraged expertise in .NET technologies to design scalable, real-time systems under stringent quality and regulatory requirements.

Architected and developed a production hardware burn-in automation platform encompassing 9+ WCF services, a zero-operator orchestration engine, and a WinForms command-and-control dashboard.
Engineered a 50+ step UUT lifecycle engine, automating server unit progression from registration to QA sign-off with LINQ-to-SQL persistence and zero manual intervention.
Designed a message-driven, event-sourced service architecture eliminating polling timers and coordinating real-time state across concurrent units using WCF duplex callbacks and SqlDependency.
Implemented zero-touch device registration leveraging raw packet capture and custom DHCP parsing to automatically detect and record MAC/IP leases upon hardware boot.

R&D Telecom Industry 10 yrs

Systems Test Engineer — Visual Networks, Inc. 1997 – 2005
Engineering Technician — Telogy Networks 1995 – 1997

Transitioned from hardware engineering to software development, tackling a critical automation challenge at Visual Networks that involved designing custom hardware, developing firmware and software, and building a complete orchestration system. This initiative, initially beyond the job title, fostered rapid skill acquisition across diverse technologies and established a foundation for subsequent architectural roles. The experience cultivated a deep understanding of hardware-software integration and a passion for solving complex engineering problems.

Designed a custom 9U relay-based crosspoint switch chassis with Verilog-controlled FPGA addressing and RS-232 remote control.
Reduced regression testing cycles from 5-6 months to 2 weeks, achieving sole ownership of both hardware design and orchestration software.
Automated full test topology provisioning, enabling Software QA to independently execute hardware-dependent scenarios through programmatic Cisco IOS configuration and UUT setup.
Developed automation software in MFC/C++ utilizing WinForms, RS-232 communication, Cisco IOS CLI, and SQL Server for structured test result recording, evolving to a client/server RPC architecture.

Projects

BbResumeBuilder — AI-Powered Job Application Automation Platform 2026-04 – Present

Developed a comprehensive platform automating job application processes, from initial scouting to tailored resume generation. This significantly reduced application time and improved relevance by leveraging AI and optimizing resource utilization.

LLM Integration & Abstraction Unified access to local (Ollama) and remote (OpenAI) LLMs through a provider abstraction layer, enabling flexible model selection and cost optimization.

Vector Embedding & Skill Matching Implemented a vector embedding pipeline with cosine similarity and token Jaccard overlap to efficiently deduplicate skills and pre-filter job descriptions, minimizing LLM token consumption.

MVVM & AOT Optimization Utilized AOT-compatible MVVM patterns with CommunityToolkit.Mvvm and XAML source generation to eliminate runtime overhead and ensure compatibility with Android builds.

Microservice Architecture & Data Access Engineered a custom MCP server providing AI agents direct access to critical data stores (SQLite, LLM archives, prompt templates) for accelerated prompt tuning and debugging.

Production Deployment & Scalability Deployed a production-ready resume host on ASP.NET Core Kestrel with automated certificate management (Let's Encrypt) and systemd service registration for reliable operation.

BbClcSolution — Real-Time Environmental Intelligence Platform 2026-03 – Present

Developed a continuously-learning real-time intelligence architecture for autonomous environmental context building and ranked importance assessment, eliminating reliance on large language models (LLMs). This platform enables verifiable, reproducible intelligence output from sensor data, facilitating deterministic control and adaptable decision-making.

Deterministic Intelligence Prioritized verifiable, reproducible intelligence generation independent of LLMs, ensuring predictable and reliable system behavior.

Adaptive Signal Processing Employed self-organizing algorithms like EMA-weighted cosine similarity and Fibonacci-thresholded histograms to dynamically adapt to changing operating contexts and prioritize relevant sensor data.

Microservice Architecture Utilized gRPC bidirectional streaming with bounded channels to connect multi-threaded event producers to remote clients, supporting flexible deployment options and client-side processing.

Graph-Based Contextualization Integrated Neo4j as a graph journal memory layer to structure historical operating context, enabling efficient querying and LLM bridge integration.

Abstraction & Decoupling Designed a layered LLM bridge abstraction to decouple LLM commentary from the core deterministic control loop, facilitating model swapping and future adaptability.

BensWorldApp — Narrative Memory Reconstruction Engine 2026-02 – Present

Developed a platform for reconstructing and interacting with human memories from fragmented text data, leveraging a Neo4j knowledge graph and large language models. This enabled persona-driven conversations grounded in rich, dynamically generated memory contexts, surpassing limitations of traditional vector-based RAG approaches.

Graph-Native RAG Integrated Neo4j vector ANN indexing with relationship-aware graph traversal and causal chain expansion to generate contextually richer responses than vector search alone.

LLM Lifecycle Management Engineered a custom queue service with priority scheduling and VRAM eviction to efficiently manage multiple LLM model tiers and prevent GPU memory fragmentation.

Incremental Knowledge Enrichment Implemented a multi-phase backfill pipeline to progressively transform raw text into a structured graph of events and relationships, enriching memory data without impacting interactive performance.

Persona Simulation & Orchestration Designed a multi-persona Scene Simulator that dynamically manages turn order, expectation violations, and response reordering, ensuring grounded and engaging interactions.

Secure Tool-Calling Architecture Authored a two-tier tool-calling interface with a user approval gate to control graph mutations and maintain data integrity.

BensWorldMcp — AI Agent Tooling Platform 2026-02 – Present

Developed a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server to expose a suite of development tools (Neo4j, SQLite, Ollama, VS solution analysis) as AI-agent-callable endpoints. This platform enabled model-agnostic parameter control and facilitated AI-driven code analysis and skill extraction, significantly enhancing developer productivity and automation capabilities.

Agentic API Design Architected a Model Context Protocol (MCP) to expose tools as AI agent endpoints, promoting modularity and extensibility.

In-Flight Request Modification Engineered a custom DelegatingHandler to dynamically adjust API requests, enabling model-agnostic parameter control without upstream changes.

Secure Data Access Implemented robust data access controls, including result size-capping and write-confirmation safeguards, to protect graph and relational databases from untrusted AI agent callers.

Real-Time Observability Designed a thread-safe telemetry system with atomic counters and dual-sink logging for real-time monitoring of tool usage patterns.

Solution Intelligence Pipeline Built a pipeline to process VS solution intelligence, leverage LLMs for skill extraction, and archive results for downstream application use.

BbLlmAppSuite — Dynamic LLM Agent Orchestration Platform 2025-06 – Present

Developed a flexible platform for orchestrating and interacting with multiple Large Language Model (LLM) agents. This design eliminated hardcoded dependencies and enabled dynamic discovery of AI agents, significantly improving scalability and maintainability.

Dynamic Service Discovery Implemented a gRPC service registry with MySQL backend to dynamically discover and manage LLM agents at runtime, avoiding static endpoint configurations.

Cross-Platform Development Utilized .NET MAUI for a unified Windows and Android client, alongside custom SocketsHttpHandler to address Android HTTP/2 TLS compatibility challenges.

gRPC-First Architecture Leveraged protobuf-net.Grpc and a custom ProtoGenerator tool to establish single-source gRPC service contracts and facilitate efficient communication between services.

Reactive Streaming Designed a bidirectional gRPC streaming chat pipeline using IAsyncEnumerable<T> and SemaphoreSlim for real-time, token-by-token LLM response delivery to a MAUI chat UI.

MVVM & Lifecycle Management Architected a per-agent MVVM pattern with robust IAsyncDisposable lifecycle management for each LLM endpoint, promoting code organization and resource efficiency.

BbLlmAppSuite-Python — Intelligent Agent Orchestration Platform 2025-05 – 2025-10

Developed a full-stack platform enabling real-time interaction with multiple Large Language Model (LLM) agents. This solution bridged Python-based LangGraph agent backends with a .NET MAUI client, facilitating complex AI workflows and delivering a responsive user experience.

Microservices Architecture Designed and implemented three independent LangGraph Swarm services, each responsible for a specific AI task, promoting modularity and scalability.

gRPC Streaming Leveraged bidirectional gRPC streaming to facilitate real-time token streaming between LLM agents and the client application, minimizing latency and maximizing responsiveness.

Dynamic Tool Generation Automated tool creation for LLM agents by dynamically scraping and parsing API documentation, eliminating hardcoded dependencies and enabling adaptability.

Tiered LLM Optimization Implemented a tiered LLM model selection strategy based on agent role, optimizing inference costs while maintaining output quality.

Cross-Platform Development Utilized .NET MAUI to build a cross-platform client application, ensuring consistent functionality and user experience across Windows and mobile devices.

POD — Media Playback Accelerator 2024-11 – Present

Developed a cross-platform media playback application leveraging .NET MAUI for Android and Windows. The project prioritized performance, resilience, and minimal storage footprint through innovative architectural solutions.

Asynchronous Coordination Employed message-driven asynchronous patterns, avoiding polling timers, for responsive UI interactions and efficient task management.

Resilient Data Fetching Designed a robust API layer with configurable batching, deduplication, and automatic fallback mechanisms to ensure data integrity and availability.

Platform Abstraction Utilized conditional compilation and platform-specific APIs to achieve cross-platform functionality while maintaining code consistency.

Performance Optimization Implemented techniques like category-partitioned queues and circular buffers to optimize media prefetching and minimize latency.

AOT Compatibility Leveraged modern .NET MAUI features and techniques to ensure full AOT compatibility for optimized Android release builds.

KetaLlmApplications — Intelligent Enterprise Query Platform 2024-08 – 2025-02

Developed a suite of LLM-powered chat applications enabling natural language querying of disparate enterprise data sources. This initiative significantly improved data accessibility and reduced reliance on specialized SQL expertise for business users.

Asynchronous Architecture Leveraged asyncio queues and WebSockets to facilitate real-time, non-blocking communication between LLMs, agents, and users, ensuring responsiveness and scalability.

Few-Shot Learning & Prompt Engineering Employed hand-crafted SQL exemplars and meticulously designed system prompts to guide LLMs in understanding and querying complex, undocumented enterprise schemas.

LangChain Integration Extensively utilized LangChain components, including BaseCallbackHandler, SQL toolkit, and structured agent frameworks, to streamline LLM agent development and integration.

Data Context Management Implemented Redis-backed chat history with TTL and trimming to maintain conversational context while adhering to model token limits and ensuring data privacy.

Custom Agent Design Architected a general-purpose ReAct reasoning assistant with custom prompt templates and structured tools, demonstrating flexibility and reusability in agent construction.

KetaHelpDeskApplication — AI Desktop Assistant 2024-06 – 2025-02

Developed an enterprise WPF application providing seamless, desktop-integrated access to Large Language Model (LLM) tools. This solution enhanced user productivity by embedding AI capabilities directly into existing workflows, eliminating context switching and streamlining support interactions.

Real-time Streaming Implemented a custom WebSocket-based protocol for low-latency, real-time LLM token streaming, ensuring a responsive and interactive user experience.

Enterprise Integration Leveraged Active Directory for secure, per-user session management and integrated with an existing osTicket helpdesk system to provide context-aware AI responses.

Modular Architecture Designed and implemented a shared library (LlmLib) to encapsulate communication and data access logic, promoting code reusability and separation of concerns.

Persistent Workspace Persisted user-specific chat window geometry and session metadata to SQL Server, enabling personalized and consistent user experiences across sessions.

Schema Reverse Engineering Successfully reverse-engineered a complex MySQL schema into EF Core models, facilitating seamless integration with a legacy helpdesk system.

KetaWipFailureUtility — Manufacturing Defect Traceability System 2024-01 – 2024-12

Developed a comprehensive system to extract and analyze manufacturing defect data from a complex, undocumented enterprise MES system. This solution significantly reduced failure triage time, improved defect traceability, and fostered collaboration across engineering, shop floor, and management.

Reverse Engineering & Data Extraction Successfully reverse-engineered a complex, undocumented SQL Server schema to unlock critical manufacturing data previously inaccessible through vendor-provided interfaces.

Data Correlation & Algorithm Design Designed and implemented a recursive BOM-to-operation resolution algorithm to correlate defect data across multiple databases and tables, establishing a complete manufacturing lineage.

.NET Application Architecture Architected a robust WPF/C# desktop application utilizing MVVM, reflection, and asynchronous programming to deliver a responsive and user-configurable experience.

Shared Library Development Created a centralized .NET 8 class library (GrpcLib) to standardize database access, gRPC service contracts, and common utilities across multiple internal applications.

Performance Optimization Implemented asynchronous query pipelines with task offloading and dispatcher marshaling to maintain UI responsiveness during intensive data processing operations.

KetaApplicationProxyService — Factory Automation Integration Platform 2023-01 – Present

Developed a comprehensive platform for integrating factory automation systems with SAP ERP, providing real-time visibility and control over production processes. This initiative significantly reduced downtime and improved operational efficiency by enabling rapid detection and resolution of integration failures.

gRPC Microservices Leveraged gRPC for inter-service communication, enabling high-performance, real-time data streaming and service orchestration within the factory automation environment.

Centralized Credential Management Implemented a secure, centralized approach to TLS certificate management, simplifying deployment and enhancing security across a fleet of Windows Services.

Reactive Event Streaming Utilized reactive programming principles and server-streaming to build a flexible and scalable event distribution system for telemetry and operational data.

Data Abstraction & Sharing Abstracted complex data models and service contracts into shared libraries, promoting code reuse and consistency across the factory automation ecosystem.

Proactive Monitoring & Alerting Designed and implemented automated certificate expiration monitoring with SMTP alerting to prevent service disruptions and ensure operational stability.

KetaFlxAndSapSideBySide — FactoryLogix MES Integration Platform 2022-11 – 2023-12

Developed a cross-platform diagnostic utility and underlying services to synchronize FactoryLogix MES and SAP ERP data, significantly reducing production sync failure resolution time. This platform centralized data access and provided a unified domain model for a complex factory application ecosystem.

.NET MAUI & gRPC Leveraged .NET MAUI for a cross-platform user interface and gRPC for robust, decoupled microservice communication.

Domain-Driven Design Established a unified domain model across multiple systems using EF Core and protobuf-net, promoting consistency and reducing redundancy.

Resilient Architecture Designed a resilient gRPC client wrapper with connection lifecycle management and event-driven notifications to ensure continuous operation.

MVVM & Reactive Data Employed MVVM architecture and reactive data binding to create a responsive and maintainable user experience.

API Integration & Abstraction Abstracted SAP REST API access through a custom HttpClient wrapper, maintaining compatibility and simplifying data retrieval.

BbSecureStream — Broadcast Distribution Network 2022-08 – 2025-11

Developed a novel, serverless PKI-authenticated broadcast distribution network eliminating reliance on centralized session state and directory services. This architecture enabled highly scalable, resilient, and secure content delivery to geographically dispersed receivers.

Serverless PKI Authentication Implemented a sessionless authentication system leveraging PKI and embedding signed responses within UDP multicast datagrams for direct, secure communication.

Decentralized Topology Discovery Architected a self-distributing hierarchical content distribution topology using multicast, enabling receivers to discover the network without a central directory.

Protocol Obfuscation Engineered a layered UDP datagram format with protobuf-net serialization and AES-CTR encryption to protect sensitive data while allowing limited public access.

Cross-Platform Development Delivered a cross-platform solution using Xamarin Forms and a portable library to support diverse distribution node types and visualization harnesses.

Proxy Pattern for Anonymity Utilized a 'vortex' proxy pattern to decouple receiver identity from network topology, enhancing privacy and mirroring established broadcast authentication models.

KetaUniversalDashboard — FactoryLogix Operations Dashboard 2022-06 – Present

Developed a real-time operations dashboard for a high-volume PCBA manufacturing site, providing critical visibility into the FactoryLogix ↔ SAP integration pipeline. This solution enabled sub-second insights into factory floor operations, facilitating rapid issue identification and resolution.

gRPC Streaming Leveraged code-first gRPC server-streaming (IAsyncEnumerable) to deliver high-frequency telemetry data with low latency.

Resilient Connectivity Designed and implemented a stateful gRPC client wrapper with custom state management and keep-alive mechanisms to ensure resilient connections to critical monitoring services.

Data Abstraction Created a shared data access layer (GrpcLib) by reverse-engineering multiple EF Core DbContexts, promoting code reuse and simplifying data access across the Windows Services fleet.

Unified Interface Implemented an IApplicationProxyService to aggregate multiple domain service contracts, providing a single connection point for the MAUI dashboard and reducing client-side complexity.

Deployment Automation Automated dashboard deployments across factory floor workstations using MSIX packaging, SHA-256 code signing, and AppInstaller auto-updates.

BbLoRa — LoRa Base Station Microservice Platform 2021-11 – 2022-12

Developed a distributed microservice platform for Raspberry Pi-based LoRa base stations, enabling remote monitoring and control of sensor data. This solution minimized resource consumption while providing robust, real-time data acquisition capabilities for edge deployments.

Containerization Leveraged Docker and multi-stage Dockerfiles to package and deploy .NET 6 microservices to ARM Linux Raspberry Pi hardware, ensuring portability and reproducibility.

gRPC Communication Designed and implemented a contract-first gRPC architecture for communication between ASP.NET Core services and a WinUI 3 desktop client, facilitating efficient data exchange over LAN.

Edge Computing Optimized .NET services for resource-constrained edge hardware, utilizing SQLite for lightweight persistence and System.Device.Gpio for direct GPIO control.

Microservices Architecture Implemented a multi-container microservice stack, orchestrating gRPC, SQLite, and GPIO sensor services to achieve modularity and scalability.

Remote Debugging Integrated VS remote debugger support within Dockerfiles, enabling live container debugging on physical Raspberry Pi hardware for rapid development and troubleshooting.

ZnBrDaqHelper — Flow Battery Research Automation System 2021-01 – 2021-12

Developed a desktop application to automate and record charge/discharge cycles for zinc-bromine flow battery research, enabling precise control and data capture for critical experimentation. This system facilitated accelerated research and improved data consistency for electrolyte optimization and cell design.

Real-Time Hardware Control Designed and implemented a custom serial protocol wrapper with AutoResetEvent synchronization to ensure reliable, real-time control of external hardware, prioritizing safe-state operation.

MVVM Architecture Architected a multi-screen application using MVVM patterns and Microsoft.Toolkit.Mvvm for a clean separation of concerns, improved testability, and enhanced UI responsiveness.

Data Persistence Implemented a robust Entity Framework Core + SQLite persistence layer to manage and link extensive research data, ensuring data integrity and efficient querying.

Reactive Calculation Developed a stoichiometry calculator to automate electrolyte batch preparation, reducing manual calculations and minimizing errors in reactive material quantities.

Data Visualization Integrated live OxyPlot charting to provide real-time visualization of voltage and current data during battery testing, enabling immediate analysis and informed decision-making.

Windows Services Infrastructure — PCBA Manufacturing Integration Platform 2021-01 – 2025-02

Orchestrated real-time production data flow between FactoryLogix MES and SAP ERP systems within a high-volume PCBA manufacturing environment. This integration eliminated manual processes, provided authoritative WIP visibility, and enabled automated production confirmations.

Microservices Architecture Designed and deployed a network of independently deployable .NET Windows Services, each responsible for specific integration tasks and leveraging gRPC for inter-service communication.

Data Integration & Transformation Developed robust data pipelines integrating disparate systems (SAP, FactoryLogix, third-party vendors) through reverse engineering, WSDL integration, and custom parsers, ensuring data accuracy and consistency.

Security & Compliance Implemented a comprehensive PKI infrastructure with embedded certificate management, secure key storage, and TLS configuration to protect sensitive data and ensure secure communication.

Observability & Telemetry Built a code-first gRPC telemetry infrastructure using Rx.NET to provide real-time health event streaming and centralized monitoring of all deployed services.

Standardization & Reusability Established standardized Windows Service scaffolding and shared components (EventHelper, KetaApp singleton) to accelerate development and ensure consistency across the platform.

KiCAD-Power-Designs — Solar Power Module Platform 2020-10 – 2024-02

Developed a modular solar power platform designed to support a range of compute and wireless modules, enabling flexible and scalable energy solutions. This platform prioritized efficiency, adaptability, and reusability across diverse battery chemistries and power delivery requirements.

Modular Design Employed a modular architecture allowing for interchangeable compute and wireless modules, facilitating rapid prototyping and customization.

Chemistry Agnostic Power Management Implemented support for both Li-Ion and LiFePO4 battery chemistries within a single design, maximizing flexibility and compatibility.

Hardware Reusability Created a custom KiCAD component library to promote code reuse and standardization across multiple hardware designs, reducing development time and improving consistency.

Power Delivery Optimization Leveraged advanced power management ICs (BQ25756, BQ25798, BQ25125) and synchronous H-bridge topologies to maximize efficiency and support USB PD 3.0 OTG and UPS functionality.

Embedded Systems Integration Designed a Raspberry Pi CM4 carrier board with extensive peripheral support (PCIe, HDMI, CSI/DSI, Ethernet) to enable seamless integration with embedded systems.

Eagle-Hardware-Designs — Advanced Battery Management System (BMS) Development 2017-07 – 2019-07

Designed and implemented a suite of custom hardware solutions for advanced battery monitoring and charging, primarily leveraging Raspberry Pi platforms. This work enabled precise control and protection of lithium battery systems, facilitating research and development in energy storage applications.

Analog Front-End Precision Employed zero-drift op-amps, isolated amplifiers, and precision voltage references to achieve high-accuracy power monitoring and data acquisition.

Galvanic Isolation Implemented robust galvanic isolation strategies using reinforced isolated SPI and bipolar isolated power supplies to safeguard low-voltage logic from high-voltage battery stacks.

MPPT Charging Optimization Developed multiple generations of Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) solar charging circuits to maximize energy harvesting efficiency.

Custom Hardware Design Lifecycle Managed the complete PCB design lifecycle, from schematic capture to Gerber/CAM export, for numerous original hardware designs.

Component Library Automation Automated Eagle component library creation and attribute assignment to streamline BOM-to-procurement workflows and accelerate design iteration.

Bro — Secure Peer-to-Peer Messaging Platform 2017-06 – 2018-06

Developed a fully encrypted, peer-to-peer messaging platform eliminating reliance on centralized Certificate Authorities, ensuring end-to-end privacy and security. This design enabled secure communication across diverse client platforms while minimizing operational overhead and maximizing user trust.

PKI & Cryptography Implemented a complete Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) stack leveraging BouncyCastle for on-device certificate generation, CMS message envelopes, and RSA key management, entirely independent of external Certificate Authorities.

Cross-Platform Development Designed and built a .NET Standard 2.0 shared core library consumed by Xamarin.Forms, UWP, and WCF REST services, ensuring consistent functionality and reducing code duplication across multiple platforms.

Microservices Architecture Decomposed backend functionality into six specialized WCF REST microservices hosted via Microsoft.Owin/Katana, promoting modularity, scalability, and independent deployment.

Security Hardening Integrated a custom chunked binary transfer protocol (BroXfer) with indexed frame reassembly and a Pi-digit XOR scrambler to provide an additional layer of security beyond CMS encryption.

MVVM & Code Refactoring Employed the MVVM architectural pattern with MvvmLight Toolkit and refactored a legacy codebase to improve maintainability, separation of concerns, and overall code clarity.

CryptoMessenger — Secure Messaging Platform 2014-06 – 2016-12

Developed a fully self-hosted, end-to-end encrypted messaging application for iOS, Android, and Windows, prioritizing user privacy and security above all else. This platform eliminated server-side access to message content, empowering users with complete control over their data and communications.

End-to-End Encryption Employed a three-layer encryption cascade, including mutual TLS, CMS envelope encryption, and XOR obfuscation, to provide robust protection against traffic analysis and unauthorized access.

Decentralized Trust Implemented a peer-to-peer certificate authority model where users generate and manage their own RSA key pairs and X.509 certificates, removing reliance on a central authority.

Microservices Architecture Architected a backend using five dedicated WCF REST microservices for certificate issuance, registration, secure relay, push dispatch, and updates, enabling independent scaling and deployment.

Resumable User Experience Designed a robust 11-step onboarding state machine, serialized with ProtoContract, to guide users through setup and seamlessly recover from interruptions.

Cross-Platform Abstraction Leveraged a Portable Class Library (PCL) and Xamarin DependencyService to share core cryptographic models and state machines across iOS, Android, and Windows platforms, while abstracting platform-specific implementations.

bbAppliedWebSites — Encrypted Messaging Platform 2013-10 – 2015-06

Developed a secure, multi-platform encrypted messaging platform enabling confidential communication across devices. This project prioritized end-to-end security and minimized third-party dependencies to maintain data privacy and control.

Secure Communications Implemented robust security measures, including PKI certificate authority, mutual TLS authentication, and client certificate authentication, to protect data in transit and at rest.

Platform Abstraction Abstracted complexities of Apple (APNS), Google (GCM), and Windows (WNS) push notification platforms behind a unified server-side dispatch layer for cross-platform delivery.

Server-Side Rendering Architected web applications with server-rendered UIs, eliminating client-side JavaScript dependencies to enhance security, performance, and accessibility.

Data Sovereignty Maintained complete first-party control over community data by integrating a self-hosted forum and implementing AntiXSS hardening.

Microservices Architecture Designed and deployed a multi-service WCF REST backend to promote modularity, scalability, and independent deployment of platform components.

GermaneProductionSystem — Hardware Burn-In Orchestration Platform 2013-01 – 2015-12

Developed a comprehensive command-and-control system for a custom hardware burn-in production environment, providing operators with real-time visibility and control over the testing process. This platform significantly improved operational efficiency and traceability by integrating hardware monitoring, ERP data, and automated boot image management.

Service-Oriented Architecture Leveraged WCF and NetTcpBinding to integrate eight backend services, enabling modularity and scalability within the production system.

Real-Time Data Streaming Implemented WCF duplex callback contracts with SynchronizationContext marshaling to deliver live unit state updates, eliminating polling and enhancing operator responsiveness.

Data Integration Integrated live ERP data (Epicor) and hardware monitoring (IPMI) into the operator UI, providing a unified view of component information and system health.

Security & Access Control Enforced role-based access control using Active Directory integration, securing privileged operations and ensuring data integrity.

Automated Workflow Designed and implemented automated PXE boot image management, enabling flexible OS targeting and streamlining the burn-in process.

gsBabysitterService — Hardware Burn-In Orchestration Platform 2013-01 – 2013-12

Developed a fully automated hardware burn-in orchestration service to manage the complete test lifecycle for concurrent units-under-test on a production manufacturing floor. This system eliminated manual operator intervention, significantly improved test throughput, and reduced operational costs.

Real-Time Event Handling Utilized WCF duplex callbacks and Windows Event Log monitoring to eliminate polling timers and react to critical events like PXE boot completions and database state changes in real-time.

Autonomous Recovery Designed a self-recovering system leveraging a hashtable-backed child lifecycle system and IPMI power cycling to automatically recover from test stalls and exceed attempt thresholds.

Pluggable Architecture Implemented an abstract strategy pattern for audit and recovery, allowing for flexible configuration of actions like IPMI power cycling and OS wait checks without service restarts.

Database-Driven Orchestration Leveraged a database to configure audit steps and manage device test pipeline transitions, ensuring a centralized and configurable orchestration workflow.

Observability & Debuggability Provisioned Windows Event Log sources and Performance Counters, and built a local WinForms test harness to enable comprehensive monitoring and debugging capabilities.

KbbS_BossMon — Real-Time Anomaly Detection System 2013-01 – 2013-12

Developed a real-time system for distributing face-recognition events to desktop clients, enabling immediate response to anomalies during hardware burn-in processes. This system decoupled sensor data ingestion from client transport, ensuring reliable delivery and minimizing operational disruption.

Duplex Communication Implemented a duplex WCF pub-sub service over net.tcp to facilitate real-time, bi-directional communication between the sensor system and subscribed clients.

Fault Tolerance Designed and implemented robust client-side WCF channel fault recovery mechanisms, guaranteeing zero-gap reconnection and uninterrupted service.

Decoupling Architected a REST-to-WCF gateway to decouple the computer vision sensor subsystem from the client transport layer, promoting modularity and flexibility.

UI/UX Design Created a non-intrusive, animated WPF notification UI with XAML Storyboards and resource dictionaries to provide ambient alerting to engineers.

COM Interop Leveraged Shell32 COM interop to programmatically manage the Windows desktop environment, enabling automated alert responses.

gsHeatBoxViewer — Hardware Burn-In Orchestration Platform 2013-01 – 2013-12

Developed a mobile application to provide real-time monitoring of hardware burn-in processes, directly empowering on-floor engineers. This eliminated reliance on fixed terminals and significantly improved operational efficiency.

Mobile-First Design Prioritized a mobile touchpoint (Windows Phone 8) for immediate access to critical operational data, demonstrating a commitment to user accessibility.

Real-Time Data Streaming Implemented multi-channel OData v3 streaming with server-side pagination to deliver live sensor data with high performance and scalability.

MVVM Architecture Utilized MVVM Light architecture to enforce separation of concerns, promoting code maintainability and testability within the Silverlight/Windows Phone environment.

Data Visualization Integrated live temperature sensor streams with Telerik RadChart, enabling clear and actionable insights from complex data sets.

Component-Based UI Leveraged Windows Phone Toolkit controls and data binding to create a responsive and user-friendly interface for heat-box selection and time-range filtering.

bbAc — Quadcopter Flight Orchestration Platform 2012-06 – 2013-08

Developed a custom framework for distributed embedded systems, enabling flexible configuration and communication between microcontrollers. This platform facilitated remote control and telemetry for flight hardware applications with extremely limited resources.

Microservice Architecture Designed a distributed object framework (BbLayer/BbObj) for .NET Micro Framework, enabling message routing and swappable transports across resource-constrained microcontrollers.

Resource Optimization Implemented low-level drivers and custom serializers, maximizing performance and minimizing memory footprint (64 KB RAM) in the absence of standard libraries.

Configurability & Flexibility Established a config-driven firmware bootstrap pattern using serialized JSON objects, allowing runtime reconfiguration of object GUIDs, transport types, and tuning parameters without recompilation.

Embedded Systems Integration Architected a two-board embedded system integrating WiFi gateway and flight brain functionality, sharing a common framework library and independently configurable object graphs.

Lifecycle Management Implemented a per-component lifecycle management system with state machine transitions and telemetry propagation for robust and observable component behavior.

gsBackendServices — Hardware Burn-In Orchestration Platform 2012-06 – 2014-06

Automated a server hardware burn-in and testing pipeline, replacing a manual process and significantly increasing efficiency. This platform enabled zero-touch device registration and real-time status updates, streamlining hardware validation and deployment.

Service-Oriented Architecture Implemented a fleet of WCF services to orchestrate complex hardware testing workflows, promoting modularity and reusability.

Real-Time Data Streaming Designed a duplex WCF pub/sub event bus with fault tolerance to deliver real-time test status updates to clients.

Network Packet Analysis Utilized PcapDotNet and custom parsing to enable zero-touch device registration through DHCP message analysis.

Legacy System Integration Engineered a reverse-proxy service to facilitate data exchange between a modern .NET backend and a legacy OpenEdge/Progress ERP system.

Performance Monitoring & Observability Instrumented critical service paths with custom Windows Performance Counters for proactive production monitoring and troubleshooting.

gsHardwareTools — Hardware Burn-In Orchestration Platform 2012-01 – 2013-12

Developed a suite of engineer diagnostic tools to streamline and enhance a hardware burn-in test pipeline. This platform enabled real-time monitoring, configuration, and management of hardware components, significantly improving test efficiency and reducing debugging time.

Real-Time Data Streaming Implemented WCF duplex callbacks with manual SynchronizationContext marshaling to ensure non-blocking, real-time data streaming of IPMI sensor and SDR data to WPF UI threads.

Service-Oriented Architecture Designed and implemented a shared gsLib service layer to unify WCF proxy types, data access, and domain entities across multiple tools, promoting code reuse and maintainability.

ClickOnce Deployment Leveraged ClickOnce web bootstrapper for rapid, automated deployment and iterative updates of all tools across the lab environment, minimizing downtime and simplifying maintenance.

WPF UI Development Built robust and interactive WPF applications for hardware configuration, CRUD management, and data visualization, incorporating inline validation and stored procedure-backed persistence.

Hardware Integration Developed tools for direct interaction with hardware components, including IPMI command dispatch, KBS controller management, and fan/tach sensor mapping, tightly integrating software with the automated test pipeline.

Education

Penn Technical Institute Associate in Specialized Technology 1994 – 1995

Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics Avionics 1993 – 1994