Erik Kangas, Ph.D.

Career Summary

Summary of Qualifications

• Very versatile: extensive experience in a wide range of topics
• Able and willing to quickly learn new techniques and skills
• Works very well in groups or independently; excellent leadership and management skills
• Can eloquently explain complex concepts to the layman or client
• Good at estimating project requirements, detailing technical specifications, and setting realistic goals and time lines
• Expert in C, C++, Perl, SQL, CGI, JavaScript, VB.NET, ASP.NET, HTML, XML, and LaTeX
• Familiar with JAVA, UML, PHP, Fortran, Assembly, and Pascal
• Expert in configuring and administering the Linux and Windows operating systems
• Expert in administering apache and IIS web servers, sendmail, procmail, pop and imap email services.
• Expertise in Information Security such as usage of symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, digital signatures, message authentication codes, and secure Internet communications.
• Database Administration of SQL Server 2000, MySQL, Oracle

Career Experience

Consulting to improve and develop database-driven web sites and software applications and to generate accurate and cost effective technical specifications for many important clients such as NCR, WorldCom, Arnold Worldwide, Embarcadero, Directech|eMerge, Tigermark, the International Magnetic Resonance Society, Network Subscriptions Inc., and others. Quality work for NCR in anticipating the changing needs of their Teradata web site resulted in a complete project that was on time, under budget, and easy to maintain, and a retainer to continue the development and expansion of their web site and information architecture.

Architected and developed "Fort Lux", an unintrusive secure extension to ones email enabling easy secure communication across the Internet without public key exchange problems, PKI compatibility problems, or intrusiveness issues. Product is based on SSL and PGP.

Architected and developed many web applications including: Content management systems, WebMail, billing systems, support ticketing systems, secure web portals, secure file management and storage tools, near-real-time web site traffic analysis, distributed scalable email and web services infrastructures, secure internal client-server communication tools, automated server monitoring and correction services, and more.

Lux Scientiae, Incorporated was known as InfiniteDimensions prior to April 2002.

Visiting Scientist in the Physics Department of MIT working in collaboration with Dr. Y. Zastavker of Wellesley College examining the super-molecular infrastructure of the self-assembly of lipid membranes formed in cholesterol crystallization. In particular, I have worked in theoretical background research and preparation of Molecular Dynamics / Monte Carlo simulations of lipid bilayers.

As group leader of the Customer Applications Group, I managed 8-12 software engineers architecting, developing and maintaining several different web-based applications and services. My enhancements to a web traffic reporting tool saved Akamai's million-dollar per year relationship with its then largest client - Apple Computer Company; I was also instrumental in several off-site visits to Apple fostering better client relations and obtaining future software requirements. I architected and managed the development of an extensive near-real-time web traffic analysis suite that was to be a competitor of WebTrends, and worked closely with a large team in the Internet Mapping Group developing a distributed fail-safe data center - data center communication API (in C++) - for Akamai's core next-generation global Internet traffic load balancing technology.

Ph.D. research in the field of molecular biophysics culminating in the dissertation, Rational Ligand Design: Electrostatic Affinity and Specificity, which emphasized theoretical and computational methods for optimizing molecular electrostatic interactions as applied to pharmaceutical design and the understanding of evolution and molecular function. Extensive C++ and Perl libraries, including a user-interface API, an automated pseudo-parallel computation and data analysis architecture, and complex mathematical utilities were also developed and optimized to support the creation and uniformity of the simulation programs.

Created a web-based multimedia tutor at the MIT Center for Educational Computer Initiatives for introductory physics (PIVoT: Physics Interactive Video Tutor), which combines an online textbook, streaming video or lectures and problem solving sessions, interactive quizzes, FAQs, and a comprehensive intelligent tutor engine. Developed or approved all physics content, assisted in the development of software tools for managing the physics content, streaming video, and metadata, and contributed to the architecture, overall product design, and project time line development. PIVoT is already used in many universities across the country, such as Wellesley College, and its generic information architecture and content management tools are being extended for use as an intelligent tutor and in industry for companies such as Ford Motor Company.

As one of the youngest students to even be admitted as a full collaborator in a large high energy physics experiment, a privilege usually only offered to graduate students and above, I developed and optimized computer programs (using a novel recursive algorithm based on the Hough transform: see senior thesis) in C for discerning charged particle tracks from experimental data in a low signal-to-noise environment in the hopes of detecting chiral condensates in proton-antiproton collisions. I also created Monte Carlo simulations of the experimental apparatus to improve the understanding of tracking efficiencies, and aided in the construction of the particle detection apparatus itself. A full screen text editor, written in C, complete with a built in scripting language, macros, and many other features was also developed to aid in the creation of the particle tracking and simulation programs.

Studied the frequency dependence of a "devil's staircase" in the orientation of certain liquid crystals resulting from applied AC electric fields. Computationally modeled soliton flow and liquid crystal helix director unwinding in anti-ferroelectric liquid crystals (AFLCs). Theoretically investigated phase transitions in AFLCs using a Landau-Ginzburg model and experimentally tested these theories. I automated the experiments by programming IEEE interfaces for data collection and analysis; this permitted the collection of much more data, with much less error.

Working for the CWRU Information Network Services, I maintained Internet-related computer programs, wrote automated log file analysis and monitoring programs in C, and administered bulletin boards.

Theoretically and computationally modeled the propagation and evolution of three-dimensional non-linear solitons, such as smoke rings. To create a 3D animated movie of these solitons, I created a Windows-like graphical user interface API (in C++ and 8086 assembly language) upon which a program to calculate and display individual frames of the 3D movie was developed. The graphical mouse-driver for this application, which was written in assembly language, has been used and requested by people around the world for many years since.

Programmed simulations of physics experiments in Microsoft Windows. The project is now commercially available and known as PEARLS.

Teaching Experience

Taught an intensive five-week, 24-hour course to 30 students in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Introduction to Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Science program (MITE2S) - a program for gifted minority high school juniors. Course content included basic computer science concepts, programming in the Perl language, HTML, and Internet publishing.

Taught two 1.5 hour guest lectures in the biological physics class entitled "Physics of Living Organisms". These lectures covered topics including basic statistical mechanics and the electrostatics of molecular interactions.

Taught a 3-day, 24-hour course on object oriented analysis and design using Embarcadero's "Describe" software package.

Taught an intensive three-week, 21-hour course to 27 students in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Introduction to Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Science program (MITE2S) - a program for gifted minority high school juniors. Course content included basic computer science concepts, programming in the Perl language, HTML, and Internet publishing.

Taught a 10-week, 30-hour course: "COM 5921: Introduction to Oracle using (Perl and) SQL*Plus " as offered by Northeastern University. The classes were taught to the C.S.C. Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts through Northeastern's continuing education program. In addition to lecturing, I also developed the curriculum, graded homework, and provided computational facilities for the students. Course topics included basic database concepts, SQL, SQL*Plus, Interfacing Oracle via the Perl DBI, and advanced issues such as triggers, indices, error trapping, data integrity, security, optimizations, etc.

Taught a 10-week, 30-hour course: "COM 5641 Perl Programming (and BASH Shell)" as offered by Northeastern University. The classes were taught to the C.S.C. Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts through Northeastern's continuing education program. In addition to lecturing, I also developed the curriculum, graded homework, and provided computational facilities for the students. Course topics included basic computer science concepts, programming in the Perl language, CGI, HTML, client-server programming, security, BASH Shell programming concepts and how they relate to Perl, and other advanced topics.

Gave an invited talk on computer security entitled "Email and Text Messaging Security in the Wired and Wireless Worlds". Read the Press Release.

Taught an intensive three-week, 21-hour course to 36 students in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Introduction to Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Science program (MITE2S) - a program for gifted minority high school juniors. Course content included basic computer science concepts, programming in the Perl language, HTML, and Internet publishing. The materials for this course are now online at Lux Scientiae.

Taught a 10-week, 30-hour course: "COM 5643 Advanced Perl Programming" as newly offered by Northeastern University. This class was taught to 14 staff programmers at the EMC² Corporation though Northeastern's corporate education program. In addition to lecturing, I also developed a curriculum tailored to the students' needs.

Taught an intensive two-week, 18-hour course to 40 students in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Introduction to Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Science program (MITE2S) - a program for gifted minority high school juniors. Course content included basic computer science concepts, programming in the Perl language, HTML, and Internet publishing. In previous years, 1999 and 2000, I gave guest lectures to the MITE2S advanced physics class on biophysics and modern physics.

Taught two concurrent sections of a 10-week, 20-hour course: "COM 5641 Perl Programming" as offered by Northeastern University. The classes were taught to the C.S.C. Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts through Northeastern's corporate education program. In addition to lecturing, I also developed the curriculum, graded homework, and provided computational facilities for the students. Course topics included basic computer science concepts, programming in the Perl language, CGI, HTML, client-server programming, security, and other advanced topics.

Education

• Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts - Biophysics
• B.S., Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio - Physics
• B.S., Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio - Mathematics

Awards and Achievements

• Published 5 first-author biophysics articles in peer-reviewed journals.
• Published 3 liquid crystal physics articles (one first-author) in peer-reviewed journals
• Published 8 high-energy physics articles in peer-reviewed journals
• IBM Corporate Fellow (1998-1999)
• National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow (1995-1998)
• Proficient in spoken and written Russian language; native speaker of English

Resume Addendum: Publication List

Online Publications and Interviews with Lux Scientiae, Incorporated

The Case For Secure Email
http://luxsci.com/extranet/articles/email-security.html

Interview: Erik Kangas, President of Lux Scientiae, on Secure Messaging
http://luxsci.com/extranet/articles/hnsinterview.html

Online Course: Introduction to Internet Programming with Perl and HTML
http://luxsci.com/extranet/courses/internet_prog/

Understanding Email Services: What are they and what do you need?
http://luxsci.com/extranet/articles/email.html

Understanding Domain Name Service (DNS)
http://luxsci.com/extranet/articles/dns.html

Biomolecular Physics with the Laboratory for Molecular Science at M.I.T.

Optimization of Electrostatic Interactions in the Presence of Aqueous Ions. E. Kangas and B. Tidor. (in preparation). Proposed Abstract

Electrostatic Complementarity at Ligand Binding Sites: Application to Chorismate Mutase. E. Kangas and B. Tidor. J. Phys. Chem. B 105: 880-888 (2001). Abstract

Optimizing Molecular Electrostatic Interactions: Binding Affinity and Specificity. E. Kangas. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Doctoral Thesis: June, 2000). View Thesis

Electrostatic Specificity in Molecular Ligand Design. E. Kangas and B. Tidor. J. Chem. Phys. 112: 9120-9131 (2000). Abstract

Electrostatic Optimization in Ligand Complementarity and Design. E. Kangas and B. Tidor. Nonconvex Optimization and Its Applications (series). Optimization in Computational Chemistry and Molecular Biology : Local and Global Approaches 40: 231-242 (2000). Abstract

Charge Optimization Leads to Favorable Electrostatic Binding Free Energy. E. Kangas and B. Tidor. Phys. Rev. E 59: 5958-5961 (1999). Abstract

Optimizing Electrostatic Affinity in Ligand-Receptor Binding: Theory, Computation, and Ligand Properties. E. Kangas and B. Tidor. J. Chem. Phys. 109: 7522-7545 (1998). Abstract

Enzyme and Antibody Catalysis of the Claisen Rearrangement of Chorismate: A Theoretical Perspective. E. Kangas and B. Tidor. Protein Science 8, suppl. 1: 78 (1999). The publication is a poster Abstract

Specificity in Ligand-Receptor Binding. E. Kangas and B. Tidor. Protein Science 6, suppl. 2: 91 (1997). The publication is a poster Abstract

Liquid Crystal Physics with the Complex Fluids Group at C.W.R.U.

Dynamics of Helix Deformation in a Chiral Smectic C^* Liquid Crystal: Optical Experiments and Modeling. E. Kangas, J.-F. Li and C. Rosenblatt. Phys. Rev. E 53: 696-700 (1996). Abstract

Solitary Waves in an Antiferroelectric Liquid Crystal. J.-F. Li, X.Y. Wang, E. Kangas, C. Rosenblatt, Y. Suzuki, and P.E. Cladis. Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. 228: 73-82 (1996). Abstract

Reversible Propagating Fingers in an Anti-Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal. J.-F. Li, X.Y. Wang, E. Kangas, C. Rosenblatt, Y. Suzuki, and P.E. Cladis. Phys. Rev. B 52: R13075-R13078 (1995). Abstract

High Energy Physics with the Minimax (T864) Experiment at Fermilab

A Search for Disoriented Chiral Condensate at the Fermilab Tevatron - art. no. 032003. T. C. Brooks, et al. Phys. Rev. D 6103: 2003 (2000).

Results from the MiniMax Experiment at Fermilab. L. W. Jones, et al. 25th International Cosmic Ray Conference, Durban S. A. 6: 29 (1997).

Analysis of Charged-Particle-Photon Correlations in Hadronic Multiparticle Production. T. C. Brooks, et al. Phys. Rev. D 55: 5667-5680 (1997). Abstract

Preliminary Results From a Search for Disoriented Chiral Condensates at MiniMax. J. Streets, et al. Proceedings of the DPF Meeting, Minneapolis (World Scientific, Singapore, 1997): (1996).

Minimax, A Forward Charged-Particle and Photon Detector at the Tevatron. W. L. Davis, et al. Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 41: 938 (1996).

Search for Disoriented Chiral Condensates. M. E. Convery, et al. Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 41: 902 (1996).

Minimax: What Has Been Learned Thus Far. M. Convery, et al. Nuovo Cimento C 19: 1045-1049 (1996).

MINIMAX; a Modest Collider Experiment to Search for the Centauro Phenomenon; Disoriented Chiral Condensates. L. W. Jones, et al. Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Cosmic Ray Physics, Rome 1: 886 (1995).

Hough Transform Tracking and Data Analysis in MiniMax. E. Kangas. CWRU Physics Dept. (Senior Thesis, 1995). HTML abstract and DPF documents

Studying the Structure of the Vacuum. E. Kangas. Proceedings of Ohio Space Grant Consortium Research Project Symposium, NASA Lewis Research Center (April 15, 1994). Abstract