Bio

My research focuses on long-term data preservation, digital archiving, and the application of digital forensics tools and techniques to archival and preservation data analysis and management. I am interested in interdisciplinary approaches that combine expertise in the areas of archiving, computer science, and digital forensics in enabling and maintaining access to digital objects that are at risk due to obsolescence. I've served most recently as a Research Scientist in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

I received my Ph.D. in Computer Science from Indiana University in Bloomington in August 2010, my Masters in Computer Science from Baylor University in 2005, and my Bachelors with a major in Computer Science from Swarthmore College in 2002.

At UNC, I was the Technical Lead on a series of grant funded projects from 2010-2022. From 2021 to 2022, I managed the software development efforts for CARASCAP: Computer-Assisted Redaction and Anonymization of Scholarly Communications and Products. From 2018 to 2021, I led development efforts for the Review, Appraisal, and Triage of Mail project, an Andrew W. Mellon grant funded research initiative under the direction of PI Christopher A. Lee. I previously worked with Cal Lee on the Andrew W. Mellon grant funded BitCurator NLP, BitCurator Access, and BitCurator projects. Prior to that, I served as a research associate working on the development of educational materials to support the use of realistic forensic datasets in professional training and to identify and explore novel uses of forensic data and tools in the context of digital archives. This work was performed in collaboration with Simson Garfinkel at the Naval Postgraduate School, supported by NSF Award DUE-0919593.

In the School of Informatics at Indiana University I worked with Dr. Geoffrey Brown on the development and evaluation of tools and techniques for long-term digital preservation. This included systems for high-performance automated format migration, low-risk file format identification, and archival handling of legacy removable media. In particular, I developed software and preservation practices to support low-risk imaging, storage, and format migration routines for legacy optical and magnetic media. Additionally, I have examined novel ways of using open source emulation platforms to quantify failure conditions when accessing executable artworks compiled for legacy hardware platforms.

Earlier work focused on computational semantics and the development of semantic models for discourse analysis.