me
Brooks Mershon
Software Engineer at UNAVCO, working on neat Geodesy stuff.
Chief Pilot and a Brand Ambassador for Mile High Gliding at Boulder Airport.
Co-owner and pilot of Boulder Pilot, LLC, which offers transition training, ferry pilot services, and experimental flight test consultation based out of the Boulder/Denver area.
I currently own and operate a Pitts Special S-1S, competing in the Rocky Mountain Chapter 12 of the International Aerobatic Club.
🆕 Projects
# Grid Cycles
# The Little Schemer Code
![The Little Schemer [code]](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bmershon/bmershon.github.io/master/img/little-schemer/teaser.png)
# 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)
# Context Sensitive Label Placement
# Reid’s Conservation Legacy
# 2015 Cy Young Tracker
# Teaching Topology with Code [PDF] [SRC]
🛩️ Aviation
FAA 4034486
EAA 1271516 (Flight Advisor)
IAC 440213
💻 Code
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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.
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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.
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Observable Notebooks. I have recently started producing interactive educational content on this platform in parallel with the material that I am currently self-studying. I learn best by examples. Observable helps me build examples that keep on giving to both myself and others.
🌎 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
🎓 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 |
Mile High Gliding
Chief Pilot and Brand Ambassador
| April 2021 - Present | 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.