Principal Systems Engineer - MxV Rail
(2020-01)
Train Control Principal Technical Lead and Resource Manager carrying out research related to current and next generation train control technology and railway operations.
- Managing and coordinate tasks of project teams of 5-10 members for several next generation Train Control Projects.
- Direct manager of seven engineers.
- Develop project plans and scopes for multiple research projects covering next generation train control systems and enabling technologies each ranging in value from $500,000 - $2,000,000
- Support fellow engineers in different capacities.
- Presented key research findings at train control conferences such as American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way (AREMA) and IHHA Conferences.
Senior Engineer: Positive/Automatic Train Control (PTC/ATC) - Norfolk Southern Corporation
(2013-04 - 2020-12)
Coordinated work activities of the ATC Operations Support Engineers and Field Engineers across 10,000 miles of Norfolk Southern (NS) System scheduled for PTC (Positive Train Control) implementation.
- Led the alpha, beta and end to end testing and initial implementation of CTC traffic over ITCM initiative (Patent US10160466B1).
- Developed concepts to leverage the Positive Train Control Network for the development of a secondary Machine to Machine Network that will allow the railroads to generate new revenue streams of over $5 million annually from the IoT/M2M marketplace.
- Played key role in designing in-house support solutions and structures that resulted in the continuous monitoring and improvement of the deployed hardware and software.
- Manage the wayside support for the initial User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Field Qualification Testing (FQT) and Revenue Service Demonstration (RSD) of active line segments.
- Member and company representative of the Integrated Train Control(ITC)-Wayside subcommittee that defines reviews and approves the standards for wayside interoperability and functions for all Class 1 railroads in North America.
Engineer: Positive/Automatic Train Control (PTC/ATC) - Norfolk Southern Corporation
(2010-09 - 2013-04)
Team member on the multi-year, multi billion dollar Positive Train Control project, responsible for upgrading and testing Interlocking/Control Points software and hardware and the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) across the 10,000 miles of Norfolk Southern (NS) System
- Implemented and approved design control procedures for the acceptance of all vendor submitted wayside PTC hardware and software in accordance with Norfolk Southern and Federal Railroad Authority (FRA) guidelines. Vendors included Invensys, Siemens, Oracle, General Electric, Alstom and LileeSystems
- Saved the company over $250,000 annually by working closely with the vendors to identify opportunities to reduce costs
- Wrote protocols, qualification documents, test plans and test reports for qualification, testing and integration of PTC hardware and software into the current NS signals system
- Assisted and supported the ATC/PTC managers in leading the internal delivery process.
Management Trainee - Norfolk Southern Corporation
(2009-05 - 2010-09)
Completed 13 months of rotations in various departments. The departments included; Transportation, Marketing, Mechanical, Maintenance of Way and Communications and Signals (C&S)
- Developed and Completed a Six Sigma Greenbelt certification through a process improvement project that was shown to lead to improvements in C&S processes and cost savings
- Part of a team that developed and took part in a corporate training video for use in promoting buy-in to companies green initiatives.
- Managed Communications and Signal maintainers on various main line territories as a stand in territory supervisor for supervisors. Territories included the high traffic crescent corridor between Washington DC and New Orleans.
- Completed advanced course work in railroad signals wayside and crossing signal systems, defect detectors, automatic equipment identification (AEI) systems, and classification yard systems
- Completed various leadership, presentation and communication workshops
Graduate Research Assistant - Southeastern Louisiana University
(2007-08 - 2008-12)
- Completed course work in Operations and Project management
- Built a semi-autonomous robot as part of the course work
- Setup and taught robotics and computer numerical control (CNC) machining laboratory coursework to undergraduate students
- Carried out graduate research work on distributed renewable energy systems, controls and sensors that were submitted for publishing
- Mentored and managed several student workers
Consultant/Project Technical Specialist - Camco Clean Energy - Nairobi Office
(2006-09 - 2007-08)
- Managed or part of multiple projects, in Asia, Africa and Europe ranging in value from $75,000-$1000000. [See list of projects I worked on in the Project Portfolio Section]
- Provided support project management and research and analysis expertise to fellow consultants in offices in China, The United Kingdom, South Africa and Bulgaria. Deemed a profitable employee after only 6 months on the job
- Developed or part of a team that developed local and international proposals related to energy in response to RFPs from organizations such as the World Bank/IFC
- Trained technicians in solar PV installation best practices
- Liaised with local and international clients and vendors such as World Bank/International Finance Corporation
Student Technical Assistant - University of Missouri-Rolla
(1999-08 - 2004-08)
Technical assistant at the Design Engineering Laboratory at the University of Missouri-Rolla where I assisted graduate students in their research work and carried out functional analysis on common appliances for addition to product repository that is still used for further research in Design Engineering
- Participant in the Opportunities for Undergraduate Research (O.U.R.E) Program at UMR. where I completed and presented research work on the novel concept of 'Design by Analogy'
- Designed and built a battery monitoring interface for a department owned GM EV-1 Electric car for my senior project
