Philip Feldman, PhD
205 Newburg Ave
Catonsville, MD 21228
410.744.8874
phil@philfeldman.com
www.philfeldman.com
blog

Extensive experience in hardware/software systems lifecycle, from concept to maintenance. Areas of interest include research into and development if intelligent tools that co-create trustworthy information based on human behavior patterns. This has led to a wide variety of experience including misinformation research, human-centered machine learning, robotics, videogame-based exercise, and simulation.

Skills:

• Technical management of multiple and individual development teams
• Human-centered design
• Supervised and unsupervised learning, with emphasis on clustering and classification
• Computer languages: Java, Python, JavaScript, C/C++, MXML/Actionscript, Perl, PHP, Forth, Pascal, and FORTRAN
• Operating Systems Windows, OSX, Unix, Linux, Irix.
• Frameworks: OpenGL, WebGl, Tensorflow, Spring, TypeScript, AngularJS, ThreeJS, GLSL, R, Flex, OpenHaptics, FLTK, DirectX Audio, etc.
• Realtime graphics visualization and simulation
• Network analytics
• Physically based modeling
• Hardware interfaces (Arduino, Unix, Linux and Win32 device drivers)
• Numerical/topological analysis
• Genetic algorithm and genetic programming methodologies.

Professional Experience

2015 – Present: AI/ML Futurist, ASRC Federal, Inc

Research Browser Mockup

ASRC designs, develops and delivers software and solutions to collect, ingest, process, analyze and present large and complex data for critical mission sets of national significance. ASRC helps the Intelligence Community, National Security and Federal agencies exploit data to identify trends, make better decisions and accomplish their critical mission objectives..

• Researching machine-learning applications that use a mix of simulated and real data to produce scalable high-fidelity simulators for training humans and machine learning systems.
• Developing of human-centered machine learning systems. Rather than focusing directly on the explicit information contained within data storage and retrieval systems, my work focusses on the behavior patterns that humans produce as they interact with this information and each other in computer mediated spaces, including neural language models such as the GPT-X series. Outputs of this work include manifold reduction and clustering algorithms based on group polarization which is then used to produce self-organizing maps for predictive analytics. Other work includes development of tools that support dynamic interaction with data such that user behavior within the information space can be determined. This behavior in turn can be used to infer the quality of the underlying information.
• Developed supervised and unsupervised machine learning, AI and network analytic tools for a project used by health care organizations to monitor staff and applicants for positive and negative behaviors. The system uses analysts to guide the learning of various ‘profiles’ that are then used to generate flags with respect to the person of interest. An ontologically-based network is associated with the retrieved information in such a way as to provide dynamic, interactive exploration of individual and group behaviors from a variety of contexts including cost, performance, team cohesion and morale.

2009 - 2015: Senior Software Engineer/Technology Architect, Novetta Inc

WebGL Pie Chart for Visualization Toolset

Novetta is a provider of leading-edge products to many of the world's most secure network infrastructures, specializing in the way that people view, share and engage information.

• Architect and senior developer on a project to provide a complete AngularJS/TypeScript/WebGL visualization framework for the creation of interactive dashboards. Data is accessed using a web based scripting system that can be configured to read in and store data from virtually any source. Data can then be visualized as graphical "dashboards" that show various aspect of the user data in 2D/3D charts integrated into Single Page Applications.
• Developed a Natural Language (NLP) based search system that builds traversable word networks/matrices that in turn can be used to determine influence and adjacency relationships between words and queries. In the current implementation for a financial analytics system a query such as 'project foo budget 2015' will return a list of live queries, charts, reports etc., ranked by relevancy.
• Senior developer on a project to provide a complete web-based visualization framework for the creation of interactive dashboards. To that end, each component was written to stand alone, and to communicate with the other components either through jdbc calls or RESTfully. Custom interfaces gathered data from the user, based on the practices that set of users is comfortable with. Processing of data from the users or from other sources was done through a web-based scripting interface. Display of this information was handled by a charting system that was carefully built to be agnostic about the type of data it displayed, so long as the data was presented in a table. This system consisted of the following components, using Java and MySQL on the server and Flex/Actionscript on the client:
1. A "data agnostic" tool for visualizing and exploring data. It could load in almost any kind of data from a single table (i.e. a set of columns with text or numeric data in the rows) and build a display that let the user visualize the relationships within and between the data.
2. Flex-based jython IDE for creating and running server-side scripts. The user can develop, run and debug the scripts entirely within the IDE. Scripts can publish data RESTfully and can read data from URL sources or accessing databases using façade calls to jdbc.
3. A data ingestor that could reach out to an URL that exposed data in a RESTful service and bring in the data periodically. A user could also select an Excel file on their local computer and upload it directly. Data could be specified as public or private and then be further narrowed down by the group that the user wanted to publish to.
4. A statistical analysys package for detailed analysis of data stored on the system. In this case, the server ran an instance of the R statistical analysis engine, while the client provided a 'point and click' interface, allowing a more intuitive way to perform analysys such as ANOVA, MANOVA, simple and complex contrasts and power analysis.
• Senior developer on mobile data visualization project. Data is gathered from a variety of sources, ranging from other mobile apps, webapps, and data uploads. Ingest and storage is handled using Google's AppEngine to communicate with the applications and Google Docs to store the data. Data can then be interactively and graphically explored on iOS, Blackberry and Android devices.
• Developed several haptic interface technologies for telepresence and virtual reality integration. Patents pending.
• Managed the technical development of a web-based financial tracking system using Flex to create 'shared spreadsheets' that users can access at various levels to track funding and status of projects.
• Currently developing a GLSL charting package for high-performance visualization of large datasets.

2005 - 2009: Senior Member of Technical Staff, Proteus Technologies

Network Monitoring Directed Attention Dashboard

Proteus Technologies is a provider of professional software and systems engineering services for Government intelligence agencies and commercial industries.

• Led the development effort to implement a web-deployed health and status visualization in Flex. The system consists of a set of custom Flex components in a library that allows a user with minimal training to assemble a sophisticated display from 20 - 40 lines of mxml script.
• Developed a variety of visualization systems and frameworks within an Eclipse/Subversion IDE using Java 1.5 and 1.6. Examples include:
• Responsible for developing a J2D-based system for system health and status monitoring that displays very large information datasets in real-time. Distribution of the system was using the Eclipse platform to provide automatic updates to a previously installed Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP) application
• Implemented a 3D geographically-based network status monitoring tool. Implemented in Java 5 utilizing the JOGL API. The system reads in configuration information from a known URL and incorporates the hardware status in a 3D display - showing the location of the hardware on surfaces that are textured with maps of progressively finer detail, starting at a global level and zooming down to floor plan levels of detail
• Designed an agent-based simulation for the production of very large amounts of data that in turn provide a baseline framework for determining optimal pattern extraction techniques. The design accommodates a large population (> 50,000) of civilian agents that live in homes, commute to work, communicate with each other using delayed email and immediate phone forms of communication, have financial transactions, etc. Into this population, a small group of hostile agents is injected with a harmful goal, ranging from a biological to a nuclear attack. The goal of the system is to be able to determine the optimal means of determining the presence, identity, location and intent of the hostile agents before they achieve their goal(s)

2002 – 2009: Chief Technical Officer – Powergrid Fitness (www.pwrgrid.com)

Kilowatt Sport Isometric Exercise System

Powergrid Fitness is a company I co-founded to produce exercise equipment that exploit the tremendously motivational nature of videogames to provide an entertaining, addictive workout. Due to Powergrid's small size, I've pretty much been involved in every aspect of the company, from writing parts of the business plan to welding up our trade show booth. My particular duties have been the invention and development of the core isometric technology and the design of the entire product line. Over the past three years that effort has included coming up with the core isometric/strain gauge technology, determining the ergonomic constraints for combination exercise and gameplay, supervising the initial mechanical and electronic design, as well as the actual design and implementation of the derived products.

Along the way I designed and fabricated numerous prototypes, ranging from cardiovascular attachments for the Kilowatt to complete exoskeletal systems for the military. I also designed and built Powergrid's test rigs, which include a robotic fatigue tester, several destructive test platforms, and a computerized pass-fail system for assembly line QA.

In other roles, I've designed and implemented iterations of the website, sourced materials, authored patents, written STTR proposals and been interviewed by everyone from NBC Nightly News to the Laurel Leader -- in other words, everything you'd expect from a small, high-tech startup.

• Designed Home Edition, Pro, Sport, and Exerstation hardware, and supervised development of electronics
• General management and implementation of entire development and prototyping process.

2002 – present: Consultant

• " Developed 3D agent-based simulation system based on GeoGraphs, the RePast platform (Java) and XML. This contract was with the Office of Naval Research through the University of Maryland. The system provides methods for using geographic agent networks to model generic social situations, ranging from epidemics to terrorist threat and response. The system is designed as a series of modules that are used to create the initial topology, define the agent characteristics, create or modify the terrain, and run the sim, either in an interactive format, or in batch mode. The batch more can further be controlled by a master control program that treats the variables used in the simulation as elements in a Genetic Algorithm string and can as such use a GA scheme to determine optimal initial conditions for reacting to for example, the release of a toxin into the water supply.
• " Developed large-scale LIDAR point visualization and manipulation software for NIST. Developed in C++ and written to be cross platform between Windows and Linux, the system provides the user with the capability of manipulating and aligning datasets consisting of up to 50,000,000 points in real time. The user manipulates a set of custom FLTK interfaces to adjust the Euler angles and matrices of each LIDAR pointcloud. Automatic routines create features from clusters of points that in turn can be used to automatically align datasets.

1996 – 2002: Senior Scientist/ Director of Software Development – Immersion Medical (www.immersion.com/medical)

• Designed a transaction-based generic simulator architecture for procedural (i.e. stepwise) simulators. This architecture allows for the simulator to reconfigure itself on the fly to incorporate new simulation elements in the form of dynamically-loaded plugins.
• Supervised the software development for three product lines - Peripheral Vascular Access, Endoscopy, and Interventional Radiology, with a staff of 12 - 15 throughout the development process.
• Supervised development of cross-platform systems, including security, development tools, render engines, and physics libraries.
• Introduced an intranet-based issue tracking system (GNATS) for handling bugs and other issues in the development process. This became the primary means for resolving issues in the development process, and produced a clear trail of the implementation process. Based on feedback on the rest of the company, supervised the development of a 2^nd generation issue tracking system using PHP and PostGreSQL to cover the entire product lifecycle in a structured, tracked way, from concept to product obsolescence.
• Designed a new software architecture to support Immersion’s next-generation set of robotic haptic interfaces, using a control architecture (NIST RCS) more suited for real time control than the legacy codebase 
• Project leader on the development of several virtual-reality based exercise/rehabilitation machines. The goal was to develop and market a machine that works most upper and lower muscle groups in the context of an engrossing game playing experience.
• Co-developer of a trade show interventional radiology simulator. This included the development and implementation of a cellular-automata based fluid flow model for blood flow and drug delivery, a full control system for the integration of the simulation with the interface and haptics devices, and a physically-based model of the catheter and balloon angioplasty hardware.
• Developed a Win95/PC-based interface for a 5 degree-of-freedom robotic vascular access simulator. This included the communication drivers RS-232 and TCP-IP, and the algorithm for distributing the processing across the PC and the host SGI.
• Led the development of an internal simulator framework that relied on a number of distributed finite state machines that communicated using a dictionary protocol over 10MB/sec Ethernet.
• For a vascular access project, developed driver software for Win95 and NT platforms, and designed and produced mechanical prototypes for over 50% of the design.
• Implemented a proof-of-concept 3d graphic simulator for vascular access and rigid bronchoscope simulators. This led to a transition from SGI to PC platforms for HT simulator products.

1990 - 1996 Advanced Technology and Research Corporation Sr Software Engineer (www.atrcorp.com)

• Invented, developed, and patented a prototype virtual reality exercise machine including audio, 3D graphics, and a 3 degree of freedom motion platform.
• Developed and implemented a graphics-based CASE tool for a C-language implementation of a state-table/dictionary-based control system running on a Silicon Graphics UNIX platform. This CASE tool has in turn been used to develop a series of projects including videogame development, material handling, highway planning, and minefield clearing simulation.
• Using topological study and high-speed analysis software, developed the “neighborhood” mail handling scheme currently being implemented in USPS General Mail Handling Facilities.
• Developed and implemented a prototype software package that allows rapid development and simulation of intelligent materials handling systems based on conveyor and monorail systems. The package is completely reconfigurable and script-driven, and requires no programming to interactively explore a wide variety of fully simulated and operable material handling system layouts.
• Developed and implemented simulation and graphics for a demonstration project involving the simulation of a 637-class submarine. Elements to be simulated and portrayed included the surrounding environment, the submarine, and control system.
• Generated and implemented simulations of various large scale mail handling system prototypes. These simulations were developed to run in real time and provide the user with a detailed, three dimensional view of the facilities, with full “walk-through” capability.

1987 - 1990 Daedalean Corporation, Engineer

Guard Fist I Appended Tank Simulator

• Project Engineer on the CQCR training system, a classified system involving the real-time combination of video, computer graphics, and mechanical control in a building-sized environment.
• Co-project engineer on the GUARDFIST appended tank training system. This included: 1) the development and implementation for the proof-of-concept system, which showed the superiority of computer graphics over videodisk technology. 2) Development and implementation of the physics simulation for the production system. And 3) Supervising the development of the real-time graphics for the production system.

1986 - 1987 R/Greenberg and Associates, Effects Crew (www.rga.com)

Predator

• Developed a system for tracking a camera position in space with extreme accuracy in real time, Depending on the size of the environment, the camera could be tracked using mechanical linkage, emitter/camera, or laser-based systems. Accuracy on the order of .0001 inch were required for the system, which also had to be lightweight enough to be hand held.
• Worked on motion control, lighting and camera for a number of commercials, including spots for Pillsbury, Rayovac, Citrus Hill, Coronet, Grundig and Krupps. Also assisted on the feature Predator.

1983 - 1986 Perceptronics Inc., Engineer (www.percsolutions.com)

• Designed and built multi-axis robotic motion control systems for filming DoD maps for later incorporation into videodisk tactical displays. Also programmed videodisk map viewing software

Education

• PhD Human-Centered Computing, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 2020 (Dissertation: Stampede Theory: Identifying and Treating Misinformation at Scale)
• MS Human-Centered Computing, University of Maryland Baltimore County, (Cum Laude) 2014
• MS Interdisciplinary Studies, Johns Hopkins University (Summa Cum Laude), 1995 (Thesis: The Coevolution of Weapons and Aggression)
• BA Cinematography, Animation and Multimedia, University of Maryland (Magna Cum Laude) 1983

Patents

• United States Patent # 7,931,470: Interface device and method for interfacing instruments to medical procedure simulation systems
• United States Patent # 7,846,164: Haptic Interface for Palpation Simulation
• United States Patent # 7,819,799: System and Method for Controlling Force applied to and Manipulation of Medical Instruments
• United States Patent # 7,727,117: Method and Apparatus for operatively controlling and Virtual Reality Scenario with a Physically Demanding Interfaces
• United States Patent # 7,331,226: Force measurement system for an isometric exercise device
• United States Patent # 7,308,831: Interface device and method for interfacing instruments to vascular access simulation systems
• United States Patent # 7,307,619, 7,202,851: Haptic interface for palpation simulation
• United States Patent # 7,121,982: Computer interactive isometric exercise system.
• United States Patent # 7,033,176: Motion platform system and method of rotating a motion platform about plural axes
• United States Patent # 6,817,973: Apparatus for controlling force for manipulation of medical instruments
• United States Patent # 6,470,302: Interface device and method for interfacing instruments to vascular access simulation systems
• United States Patent # 5,584,700: Virtual-reality based flycycle exercise machine

Books

Stampede Theory: Human Nature, Technology, and Runaway Social Realities (Elsevier, 2023)

Publications

• Trapping LLM Hallucinations Using Tagged Context Prompts (draft) (ArXiv 2023)
• The Keyword Explorer Suite: A Toolkit for Understanding Online Populations (ACM IUI 2023)
• Down the Rabbit Hole: Detecting Online Extremism, Radicalisation, and Politicised Hate Speech (ACM Computing Surveys)
• Polling Latent Opinions: A Method for Computational Sociolinguistics Using Transformer Language Models (prepub)
• Ethics, Rules of Engagement, and AI: Neural Narrative Mapping Using Large Transformer Language Models (2021 Bulletin of the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Data Engineering)
• Training robust anomaly detection using ML-Enhanced simulations (Proceedings of the 2020 Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium)
• Navigating Language Models with Synthetic Agents (prepub)
• Stampede Theory: Mapping and Treating Dangerous Misinformation at Scale (2020 doctoral dissertation)
• Evolving Neural Network Ensembles for Reliable Time Series Prediction (Ground Systems Architecture Workshop March 2020) (slides)
• The Resilience of "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" (IEEE Technology and Society Magazine June 2019) (article)
• Disrupting the Coming Robot Stampedes: Designing Resilient Information Ecologies (Best "Blue Sky" paper) (iConference 2019) (paper)
• Diversity in Massively Multi-agent Systems: Concepts, Implementations, and Normal Accidents (2018 International Workshop on Massively Multiagent Systems) (paper)
• This One Simple Trick Disrupts Digital Communities (Best Poster) (SASO 2018) (paper)
• Simon's Anthill: Mapping and Navigating Belief Spaces (Collective Intelligence 2018) (paper)
• With Maps and Mobs: Searching for Trustworthiness using Belief Spaces (CHIIR 2018) (paper)
• Modeling the Law of Group Polarization (Collective Intelligence 2017) (poster)
• Modeling Polarizing Network Behaviors with Flocking Simulations (HCIC 2017)
• Tagibly Enhancing Haptics (TEI 2015)(paper) (poster)(code)(code)
• Towards Supporting Situational Awareness using Tactile Feedback (3DUI 2014) (paper) (poster) (code)
• 8^th International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium: Combatting Terrorist Networks: Current Research in Social Network Analysis for the New Warfighting Environment
• Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation vol. 7, no. 1: The GeoGraph 3D Computational Laboratory: Network and Terrain Landscapes for RePast
• Architecture NISTIR 4875 ; A Submarine Simulator Driven by a Hierarchical Real-time Control System
• Johns Hopkins University Master’s Thesis: The Co-evolution of Weapons and Aggression