Summary
Joshua Thorp has a degree in Computer Science with a concentration in Mathematics from the Cornell University School of Engineering and eleven years of practical experience in the field of complexity science and agent based modeling.
Co-founder & CTO InboxFever
Built a cloud scalable email parsing API for web applications on the AWS platform using the python Django web framework. The app is auto-scaled utilizing a puppet server configuration for spinning up new ec2 instances. Custom email apps were built for this platform using Google App Engine. Project managed the work of programming contractors, worked with design firms as well as accounting and legal services. Participated in the Boulder TechStars startup accelerator. Worked to raise venture capital.
Technical lead & Facilitator GUTS y Girls
Managed and customized a modern PHP/MySQL social network website for a NSF funded project studying the effects of a social network and monthly daylong workshops on the self-efficacy of middle school girls in the STEM field. Worked closely with lead researcher to tailor social network functionality to needs of the program to answer research questions. Compiled reports on the girl’s activities on the site. Facilitated sessions to familiarize the girls with the site and other computer topics including basic programming, Agent Based Modeling and complexity science concepts.
Independent Contractor Stigmergic Productions
DEW (Digital Earth Watch), Android App. Built a citizen science application for the Digital Earth Watch PicturePost project supported by NASA. App takes photos in 8 directions from a fixed location and uploads them to a site. Posts can be viewed over time to explore questions about seasonal change.
Bump, Android App. App takes accelerometer readings and uploads them to a server for crowd sourced algorithm challenge to discover potholes. App had a visual user interface and communicated with a back end server that was developed on the Google App Engine platform. Developed for the city of Boston, New Urban Mechanics.
Software Developer & Facilitator Project GUTS
Developed educational software with a team at the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program called StarLogo TNG. Developed other applets/models for instructional activities. Created curriculum for middle school students learning about Complex Adaptive Systems and Agent Based Modeling. Support of Drupal based website. Taught classes and workshops, both for students and teacher professional development.
Instructor Educational Programs
Topics taught included GIS, Agent Based Modeling, basic programming concepts in NetLogo and Java.
- New Mexico Super Computing Challenge Summer Teacher Institute (3 years)
- Teachers for the Santa Fe Institute Frontiers in Biological Research (2 years)
- High school students in the Santa Fe Institute Summer Internship Mentorship program (2 years)
- Presented agent based models and scientific visualization techniques to Grad students in the Santa Fe Institute Complex Systems Summer School (2 years)
Principal at RedfishGroup
Since 2002 Joshua has been an independent consultant focusing on the agent based modeling domain and interactive scientific visualization. 2003 through 2005 found Joshua contracting to Los Alamos National Laboratory modeling social interaction networks of employees and divisions at LANL.
In the fall of 2005 Joshua began work with Lee D. Hoffer, Ph.D., MPE Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, modeling the street market of heroin along with RedfishGroup, based on ethnographic work completed by Dr. Hoffer.
Other RedfishGroup work included modeling traffic evacuation of Santa Fe during a simulated wildfire, evacuating a baseball stadium and subway station, and visualizing various data sets using an innovative form of "Agent-Based Data Visualization" techniques.
Software Developer at BiosGroup
In addition to an internal QA and re-usable code repository effort, Joshua's project work included team writing an exploration and production business unit model for a large energy company in Houston and subsequently worked as technical lead on a project to automate the management of distributed data storage on a network with a data storage software company.
Early Influences
Starting at the age of 7, Joshua had an evolving interest in computing. In high school Joshua participated in the New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge with a project that focused on artificial life and genetic algorithms inspired by the work of Christopher Langton at the Santa Fe Institute. From that time on, he has been interested in distributed systems of interacting agents and other complex adaptive systems. Growing up on a small family farm near Cerrillos, N.M., Joshua has always been fascinated by the intersection of complex adaptive systems studies and the sustainable agriculture movement.