Spotlight on: Doug Kennedy

Doug Kennedy has a collection of bikes. He has a tandem bike for outings with his wife (they tow their two boys in a trailer), a road bike used for Bicycle League of Norman events, a commuter bike used for riding to work (with fenders and a rack), a mountain bike, a time trial bike that he built himself, and a couple of spare inexpensive bicycles that he uses when there is a chance they might be stolen. Someday Doug hopes to ride from Oklahoma to the west coast, then north along the coast to Washington and Oregon, east through Canada to Maine, south along the east coast to Florida, then return to Oklahoma. In the nearer future he'd like to ride across the state, but his support of CIMMS field projects in the spring hinders him from fulfilling these goals.

Doug (CIMMS) works with mobile data acquisition systems at CIMMS. He has written data collection software for the mobile mesonet and electric field meter. He also wrote software for the mobile digital network used during IHOP to send data back to the field coordination vehicle. Doug calls himself a computer scientist--a person who studies the use of computers to solve problems efficiently--as opposed to a system administrator, programmer, or database administrator (but he does all that too). He says he must constantly learn new technologies, then figure out how to apply these skills to help CIMMS scientists accomplish research goals--one of his favorite parts of the job.

Doug first became interested in computers while playing with an old Apple computer at the Murray State Library where his father was director. He also helped his dad set up a CD-ROM search system for the library when CD's were a novel storage system. His interest in computers and the library led him to get his B.S. in math and physics from Southeast Oklahoma State, and his M.S. in library science from OU. His job at the OU library in the computer support department wasn't exactly what he had hoped for. So, after a year, when a job opened up at CIMMS, he pursued it. He had visited NSSL while on a tour with his high school, and even met scientists and toured the computer room -- but he didn't think he was smart enough to work here. To his surprise, and our benefit, Doug has been at his "dream job" with CIMMS at NSSL for seven years. Doug is also working to complete an M.S. in computer science at OU this spring.

Doug spends his free time biking and gardening. The most unusual thing he grows is bitter melon -- a Chinese vegetable that is a cross between a bell pepper and a cantaloupe (more bitter than sweet). Friends say he has the most non-bitter bitter melon they have ever tasted. His wife Nan-I is from Taiwan and is working on her Ph.D. in communication. His boys Ian (3) and I-Kang (18 months) eat bitter melon too!