Bio

Andrew O’Brien is a fullstack software engineer with a passion for A New Kind of Science, deep learning and complex systems. He graduated from Georgetown University in 2018 with a BA in linguistics (with a focus in computational linguistics, Mandarin and Spanish) and a minor in media production, spending time abroad in Cuba, Hong Kong, Spain and mainland China. Andrew bootcamped himself in software engineering while working as a product manager at Quicken Loans and then joined Integral (integral.io), a Detroit-based automotive software consultancy specializing in test-driven development and pair programming. He collaborated with Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC as a software engineer and TDD/XP trainer. He developed projects including optimized routing algorithms, ride-hailing simulation and ride-hailing applications for autonomous vehicle fleets. After reading A New Kind of Science, Andrew became interested in the use of cellular automata for modeling self-organizing and emergent behavior in complex systems. Of particular interest to him is using convolutional neural networks to learn cellular automaton update rules capable of simulating processes in nature like morphogenesis and regeneration. He has a linguistic affinity for both the Wolfram Language and Swift, loves computational art (especially the work of Refik Anadol), follows stand-up comedy the way many follow sports and enjoys teaching others how to program as much as he enjoys programming, often by writing articles for his developer blog, justkeepclicking.io.

Project: Wolframe: Semantic Video Summarization