Zack is a recent addition to the Bucker Lab at Cornell University.  He is a software developer who works on development and support of the TASSEL package and various other systems used by the Buckler Lab.

Background:

I grew up in a small town in rural Central New York (near Ithaca).  Ever since I can remember I have been interested in computers and more specifically programming them.  

I worked to get a B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Houghton College.  While I was there, the main Computer Science Professor Dr. Wei Hu asked me to do research with him on top of my studies.  His interests were in finding new ways to apply Data Mining and Machine Learning algorithms to real life problems.  For the last three years of my undergrad, I worked on projects ranging from the Flu, Network Intrusion Detection Systems, Gender Prediction using Text and Spam Account Detection on Twitter.  Although the projects were interesting, I was more interested in the techniques used to do the analysis.  At the end of my time at Houghton College, I still was not sure exactly what I wanted to do.

So I went into grad school at Rochester Institute of Technology.  Here I worked to gain my M.S. degree in Computer Science with a focus on Intelligent Systems.  Due to my past experience with diverse research topics, and my performance in a number of classes, I was asked to join the Document and Pattern Recognition lab headed up by Dr. Richard Zanibbi while I worked on my Masters Project.  My project focused on yet another interesting application.  This time it was Lecture Keyword Spotting in Audio.  

After college, I moved back home to the Ithaca area and joined the Buckler Lab a couple months later.  I enjoy the fact that I am consistently learning new things and adding my skills to the projects even though I do not have a Biology or Genetics background.  

Contact Information:
Zrm22@cornell.edu