Casey R Hickerson

Curriculum Vitæ

Education

University of Washington, Seattle WA USA
PhD Student in Information Science, 9/2009-
Research Areas: emergence and evolution of design instruments, e.g., methods, models, tools and techniques; diagrammatic techniques of ideation and representation in design; cognitive aspects of creativity; research methods in design; design methodology and pedagogy; ubiquitous computing in the urban context
Member, dub Community for Human-Computer Interaction and Design
Advisor: Andrew Ko

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA USA
PhD Student in Computational Design, 2/2007-5/2008
Research Areas: shape grammar analysis of historic building styles; use of shape grammars for building layout determination; environmental simulation in building information modeling
Advisor: Ramesh Krishnamurti

The Architectural Association, London UK
Master of Arts in Histories and Theories of Architecture, 11/2004
Thesis: Design Education for the Open Society: Working Methods of the Cornell Urban Design Studio
Concentrations: research methods in design; design pedagogy; formalist perspectives in architecture
Tutor: Diana Periton

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA USA
Bachelor of Architecture with an Additional Major in Philosophy, 5/2003
Concentrations: design theory, urbanism; epistemology and value theory
Design Commendation for Urban Design, 12.2002
Undergraduate Student in Computer Science, 8/1997-8/1998

Publications

F Grobler, A Aksamija, H Kim, R Krishnamurti, K Yue, CR Hickerson. 2008. "Ontologies and Shape Grammars: Communication between Knowledge-Based and Generative Systems." Design Computation and Cognition '08: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Design Computing and Cognition. JS Gero & AK Goel, eds. Springer Netherlands.

K Yue, CR Hickerson, R Krishnamurti. 2008. "Determining the Interior Layouts of Buildings Describable by Shape Grammars." CAADRIA 2008: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Computer Aided Design Research in Asia. Chaing Mai, Thailand. 9-12 April 2008. 117-124.

Research

Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA USA
Research Associate II, 5/2008-7/2009
Led interaction design of a web-based intelligent tutoring system for middle-school mathematics. This system aims to provide free, individualized mathematics instruction for students in grades six through eight using tutors built with Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tools.

  • My primary responsibilities included:
  • performing background research and precedent studies to refine the project's scope
  • generating prototypes, use cases and scenarios to identify functional and technical requirements
  • working with teachers, math coaches and other domain experts to improve the user experience
  • organizing the site's information architecture
  • designing the site's overall look and feel

Principal Investigators: Vincent Aleven and Bruce McLaren
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education

Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture, Pittsburgh PA USA
Graduate Assistant, 2/2007-5/2008

  • Developed decomposition algorithms and shape rules for an intelligent system that can predict buildings' interior layouts from their exterior features and contextual information. (PILOT), 2/2007-5/2008
  • Investigated ways of integrating environmental assessment methods, including LEEDTM and BREEAM, into building information modeling tools, 2/2007-8/2007
Research Assistant to Professor Stephannie Bartos, 5/2002-8/2002
Organized material for two textbook proposals and a course on the history of Japanese architecture

Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA
Undergraduate Research Assistant for PASIS, 4/1999-8/1999
Developed secure information sharing techniques for highly persistent distributed systems

Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA
Technical Assistant, CERT Coordination Center, 5/1998-10/1998
Collected and organized material related to computer security and system infiltration techniques for the Vulnerability Analysis and Incident Response groups

Teaching

The Information School, University of Washington, Seattle WA
Predoctoral Teaching Associate I, Autumn 2009–

Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture, Pittsburgh PA
Teaching Assistant, Summer 1999–Spring 2000

Practice

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Pittsburgh PA
[Architectural Designer], 11/2005-2/2007
Contributed to programming, schematic design, construction documentation, engineering systems coordination, code research, and related tasks for various projects, including:

Thomas Spiegelhalter Studio, Pittsburgh PA (now Los Angeles CA) and Freiburg, Germany
Designer & Developer, 11/2001-12/2002
Created and maintained an online presence for Spiegelhalter and his practice

Plumb Design [Thinkmap], New York NY USA
Developer, 5/2001-8/2001
Developed an interactive tool to visualize relationships among Motorola's investments; maintained Plumb Design's internal resource management system; assisted with development of a corporate website for Bacardi
Developer, 6/2000-8/2000
Developed a web-based financial account management system for Merrill Lynch; maintained Plumb Design's internal resource management system

Exhibitions

Projects Review 03/04, The Architectural Association, London UK, 10-30 July 2004
Contributed text, sound, and images to a multimedia installation by the AA's Histories and Theories program

FUSE_03, The Terminal Buildings, Pittsburgh PA, 4/2003
Contributed to a group exhibition of student work from Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture

Abilities

Development Technology
Programming Languages: C, C++, Java, Python, Ruby, Perl, Bash, JavaScript, Standard ML, Lisp/Scheme
Development Tools: Eclipse, GNU toolchain, MS Visual Studio, Xcode
Microcontroller Platforms: Atmel AVR (Arduino and avr-libc)
Web Application Platforms: Apache, Rails, Tomcat, PHP, MS Internet Information Server, ColdFusion
Databases: MySQL, SQLite, MS SQL Server

Design Technology
Graphics, Illustration and Interaction: Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash (with ActionScript 2 and 3)
Documentation: InDesign, Acrobat, TEX/LATEX, QuarkXPress, PageMaker
Spatial Modeling & CAD: Revit, AutoCAD, MicroStation, SketchUp, 3ds max, form·Z, 3ds max
Miscellaneous: Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tools

Miscellaneous
Spoken Languages: English (native), German (reading knowledge)
Manual Skills: freehand drawing and rendering, physical modeling and fabrication, basic electronics
Amateur Radio License W3CRH

Activities

Professional Organizations
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI)
American Institute of Architecture Students, 1998-2003

Service
Graduate Orientation Counselor, Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture, 2007
Chapter Secretary, AIAS Carnegie Mellon, 2001-2002
Webmaster & Member of Host Committee, AIAS FORUM [National Convention], 2001
Class of 2003 Representative, AIAS Carnegie Mellon, 1998-2001

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