Brooks Mershon

N69KK Pitts S-1S Brooks Mershon

Software Engineer at UNAVCO, working on neat Geodesy stuff.

Owner, Boulder Pilot, LLC, offering transition training, ferry pilot services, and experimental flight test consultation in Western North Carolina and the Rocky Mountain area.

Competing in International Aerobatic Club contests throughout the US (mostly on the East Coast) in my Pitts S-1S. See my results here. Proudly sponsored by Ingenious Coffee Roasters on Main Street in Marion, NC.

🆕 Projects

See my latest work for UNAVCO on Observable.

# Grid Cycles

# The Little Schemer Code

# From Mathematics to Generic Programming

# Category Theory (self-study module) [Wiki]

# SIGGRAPH 2016: A Wide-Eyed Account [PDF] [SRC]

# Hofstadter Sequences

# Equidecomposability

# Laplacian Mesh Editing

# Shape Descriptors

# Procrustes Alignment of 3D Meshes

# Specular Reflections (Echo Simulator 2016)

# WikiBlocks [VIDEO] [SRC]

# Context Sensitive Label Placement

# Reid’s Conservation Legacy

# 2015 Cy Young Tracker

# Teaching Topology with Code [PDF] [SRC]

# Flickr [Medium]

🛩️ Aviation

In the news!

Brooks Mershon Pitts S-1S N262PD

FAA 4034486

EAA 1271516 (Flight Advisor)

IAC 440213

See www.boulderpilot.com

💻 Code

GitHub repositories for longer projects. Some repos are actually teaching materials organized in the spirit of a software project, because teaching is programming. And I love teaching and explaining as I’m learning while leaving a record beind, if only to help externalize memory.
bl.ocks.org for interactive visuals, code snippets, and bite-sized explainers. Often made to teach myself. These are updated frequently and more often than not reflect a day’s effort at playing with a new idea. In the same veign as Mike Bostock’s examples, these blocks help me to break a larger project into smaller self-contained explainers. It’s a good day when I can upload another one of these; like building blocks, these tend to be part of larger and more involved structures.
Observable Notebooks. My latest work has been a series of interacive tools built for UNAVCO to support the geoscience and geodesy scientific communities; get data, share data, explore data, and find pedagogical tools built to explain what we can do with geoscience data (mostly high precisison GPS/GNSS archival and realtime data).

🌎 Publications

Static and Interactive illustrations for The Washington Post.
Pratt Education: The Online Revolution in Duke Engineer Magazine (2013).

📜 Essays

selected entries

📚 Catalog

Books, essays, films and other resources I have found to be particularly great or enriching. Updated frequently.

📷 Camera

Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo.

🎓 Education

Duke University

BS in Computer Science

May 2016

Durham, NC

Cum. GPA: 3.74 / 4.0

Duke Cycling Team Member

New York University

Writers in New York 2014

🕔 Experience

UNAVCO

Software Engineer III

April 2021 - Present

Boulder, CO

Rapid prototyping of frontend data discovery and visualization tools on Observable featured in Yahoo News and Observable customer success stories.
Pedagogical tools related to seismology and GNSS aspects of geoscience.
Shake Alert earthquake early warning system design;research and development team.

Mile High Gliding

Chief Pilot and Brand Ambassador

April 2021 - February, 2022

Boulder, CO

Staff training in Piper Super Cub, Citabria, Schweizer 2-32 and 2-33 gliders.
Curriculum development for instruction at MHG, interfacing with Wings Over the Rockies scholarship programs for students learning to fly gliders.
Sponsored aerobatic pilot, Pitts S-1S, representing Journeys Aviation and Mile High Gliding.

Boulder Pilot, LLC

Co-Owner and Pilot

March 2020 - Present

Boulder, CO

Started an aircraft ferry services and transition training LLC with an emphasis on experimental aircraft, biplanes, and other demanding tailwheel aircraft with a Fedex Express and Air National Guard Pilot.
Developed the website, branding, merchandizing, and billing practices for the Boulder Pilot brand.
Long term contract test pilot for an Experimental Ryan ST replica. All new, CAD from the ground up, kitplane design being brought to market.
Formed long term relationship for flight test, design consultation, marketing, video production, and technical documentation with Timber Tiger Aircraft.

Mile High Gliding

Manager and Pilot

January 2018 - April 2021

Boulder, CO

Experienced commercial glider and tow pilot. Scenic glider rides, transition training, and primary flight instruction. Responsible for staff pilot training.
Rebranding and implementing advertising and web presence under new ownership and merging with Journeys Aviation.
Organizing restoration of existing gliders and acquisition of new aircraft.
Overhauling facilities and modernizing scheduling and billing practices.

Trimble SketchUp

Software Developer

July 2016 - January 2019

Boulder, CO

Significant engineering and design involvement bringing SketchUp Web to the EDU market, including integrating online file saving with Google Drive.
Focused on improving the look, feel, and usability of the SketchUp Web user interface, specifically the search for Commands.
90 percent front-end work, 10 percent core geometry engine work.
Won Best Presentation and Best Overall Hack at internal 2018 hackathon.

The Washington Post

Graphics Intern

June 2015 - August 2015

Washington, D.C.

Designed graphics for print and online publication using Adobe Illustrator.
Developed interactive graphics that were published online on subjects including baseball statistics, historical U.S. nuclear testing, and environmental conservation.

Duke University Press

Books Editorial Intern

January 2015 - May 2015

Durham, NC

Versal

Software Engineering Intern

May 2013 - August 2013

San Francisco, CA

Developed simulations related to optics, epidemiology, image processing, and geometry as the company launched.