Jul 22 2007
About Myself
Biographical Sketch
My name is Derek Harter and I am currently an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems at Texas A&M University—Commerce. I received my Bachelors in computer science at Purdue University and Masters in computer science with a concentration in artificial intelligence at Johns Hopkins University. In 2004 I received my Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Memphis for research on applications of complex systems concepts to understanding intelligence and applying them to autonomous agents and robotic systems.
Between receiving my Bachelors and while working on my Masters I worked as a software engineer in the D.C. area for a couple of companies. Among these were a two year stretch at Hughes Network Systems in Maryland, and another two year stretch with MCI Metro. For both companies I was generally involved with developing and maintaining software applications for various telecommunications systems. As an example, at MCI Metro we were developing a network provisioning system, using Next cubes and developed in Objective C, for ordering and provisioning local phone services. A lot of my practial experience and interest in software engineering issues evolved during these years.
However, I have always been interested in cognition and artificial intelligence, even during my years in the telecommunications industry. Thus my return back to academia to pursue my Ph.D. and get back into more research oriented activities.