Cody is a first year master’s student in MIT’s Technology and Policy Program doing research in the Human Dynamics Group in the Media Lab (which he loves).
He received his B.S. with Honors in Computer Science from Truman State University in 2010 with (at one point) minors in Cognitive Science, Philosophy, Physics, and Business. Thankfully, he (at the relief of his parents) realized the negative consequences that this would have had on his graduation date and dropped some of the minors…
Having taken two and a half years of Japanese he is under the delusion convinced that he could survive for at least a week if dropped off somewhere in the country, and if given a red paperclip, he might be able to end up with a nice house, eventually.
In 2008 Cody co-taught INDV 151 Androids, Atoms, and Aliens: Science Fiction and Social Commentary with Nathanael Dollar and Dr. Marty Eisenberg. After teaching the course, he is still not entirely certain what happened in Brazil.
Cody has pursued astronomy research, working on and leading several projects at both the Truman Observatory and the National Undergraduate Research Observatory (part of the Lowell Observatory). He’s even discovered a few stars in the process and has two published papers (here and here). Within the realm of computer science, he has been infatuated with how we interact with technology, how information can be overlaid onto the real world (Augmented Reality), and how social media is changing what we know and how we know it.
At Truman, he sat on several University committees, served as the co-chair of the campus technology committee, sat on the Executive Committee for The Student Government, and was the only student on Truman State University’s Board of Governors. Thus, he also served as the sole student on the Honorary Degrees Committee and Presidential Search Committee (which means that he hired both an Interim President and Permanent University President before ever graduating… O_o).
In 2007 he decided he had way too much free time and started a game called Humans vs Zombies at Truman State with the assistance of a friend in an effort to increase fun, camaraderie, and interaction on campus. The first round of HvZ drew 120 players and proved itself a smashing success. This massive asymmetrical game of tag has grown to the point of pulling in 450+ players a semester (over 8% of campus), alumni, and others from surrounding states. With the addition of more complex games requiring students to interact in real-time with players from other colleges to complete missions, Cody successfully worked to synchronize the game across other campuses – making HvZ the first multi-campus effort of this nature.
Over several summers, he spent time in Kansas City, MO – working for Cerner Corporation. As a part of the Lights On team his efforts were primarily concentrated on the development of dynamic and interactive data visualization techniques and web application design and implementation. And in the Spring of 2010 he interned for Senator David Pearce at the State Capital in Jefferson City, taking on a new set of interesting challenges and opportunities.
Wait… wait… wait… how does any of that relate!?
Simply put, I like doing awesome things that make a difference. My definition of awesome is just a little different than most people.