Professional Summary
Science-savvy freelance writer who combines the research skills of a mathematician with the customer-savvy of a business professional. Turns complex information into clean, readable prose designed to educate and entertain the reader. Specializes in health, fitness, travel and food with complimentary skills in photography and a penchant for investigative journalism.
Experience
Freelance Writer and Entrepreneur - Self Employed
Freelance writer of newspaper articles, business reports, instructional material, and web content; primary author and webmaster of smarterfitter.com, a popular health and fitness blog; co-wrote and developed WritersResidence.com, an online portfolio manager for writers. I also write social media reports about major international brands for Market Sentinel.
Content Developer - (March 2005 - May 2006) - Enspire Learning
- Lead writer of an online statistics course for Minitab Inc
- Co-developed and facilitated a leadership training program to students at MIT’s Sloan business school and executives at Pitney Bowes
- Served as primary author of Whole Foods Market’s first e-learning training course
Risk Modeler - (January 2007 - April 2008) - Royal Bank of Scotland
Independently researched and reported various statistical models used by the Corporate Markets Credit Risk Department; produced technical documentation and user guides to explain credit rating models to members across the business
Technical Writer - (September 2006 - November 2006) - Imparta Ltd
Designed, developed and delivered a developer's manual for Imparta's development platform for e-learning applications
Software Quality Assurance Engineer - (October 2004 - January 2005) - FTSE UK
Designed, executed and documented software tests to ensure a smooth and on-schedule transition to the “Industry Classification Benchmark System”, a merger of the Dow Jones and FTSE stock market index systems
Marketing Intern - (May 2004 - August 2004) - Uship.com
Completed independent market research projects to discover new markets that aided the ongoing profitability of the start-up company; reported results in written documents and presentations
Graduate Research Assistant - (June 2002 - August 2004) - University of Texas Mathematics Department
One of seven individuals selected for UT’s VIGRE (Vertical InteGration of Research and Education) Scholarship; used statistics to research and answer questions in computational biology, the results of which contributed to the successful completion of my Master’s Thesis
Lead Research Assistant - (May 2003 - August 2003) - University of Georgia Mathematics Department
Led a team of undergraduate researchers in a mathematical programming project to study open problems in computational geometry
Mathematics Teaching Assistant - (August 2002 - May 2004) - University of Texas Mathematics Department
Led weekly tutorials on various maths topics for undergraduates
Software QA Tester - (May 1999 - August 2001) - Wolfram Research
Performed software tests and wrote reports to explain the cause and effect of bugs I found
Teaching and Lab Assistant - (September 1998 - May 2000) - University of Illinois
Led computer-assisted tutorials for undergraduate calculus courses
Layout Assistant - (September 1997 - September 1998) - The Daily Illini
Used QuarkXPress to layout classifieds section of UIUC’s student newspaper; maintained a portion of the newspaper’s website
Publications
Why runners are on a high - (April 2008)
Published by The Daily Telegraph
Minitab Quality Trainer - (May 2006)
Published by Minitab, Inc.
Dietary Supplements and the Law - (June 2005)
Published by Whole Foods Market
A Monte Carlo Algorithm for Closed Polymer Chains - (May 2003)
Published by University of Texas at Austin
When a B[e] Supergiant Meets Two B Dwarfs - (May 1999)
Published by American Astronomical Society
Education
Computational and Applied Mathematics - (May 2003), Master of Science - University of Texas at Austin
Mathematics - (May 2001), Bachelor's of Science - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Skills
Writing
Professional writer with over 15 years experience in newspaper, online and business writing with credits including The Daily Telegraph and smarterfitter.com
Instructional Writing
Developer, writer and designer of e-learning material for various clients including Whole Foods Market, Minitab Incorporated, and MIT’s Sloan Business School
Business and Technical Writing
Primary author of technical documentation, business reports and presentations for Royal Bank of Scotland, Imparta Limited and Enspire Learning
Academic Writing
Primary researcher and author of academic thesis in computational biology; researcher and co-author of astronomy paper presented at the 194th meeting of the American Astronomical Society
Memberships
National Union of Journalists, June 2008 - Present