User:Pat Palmer

My academic background includes public sector management, computer science, linguistics and literature. Overall, I spent an embarrassing number of years in college. I have masters degrees in computer science (Univ. of Tenn., 1983) and public sector management (Univ. of Penn., 1992).

As of 2007, I work as a free-lance trainer. From 2002-2006, I taught computer architecture, software engineering and programming in the [MCIT program] at the University of Pennsylvania in a non-tenure position. Before that, I consulted on software systems within pharmaceutical and insurance companies. My early computer career included several years’ experience developing telecommunications software at AT&T and Lucent.

My first academic effort was in linguistics. I spent three years doing graduate study in Germanic linguistics (specialization: semantic change in Middle High German) at the Univ. of Tenn but switched over to computer science without quite completing a linguistics degree (I was working on a Ph. D.). During that time, I read Old High German, Old Norse, Icelandic, Middle High German, Afrikaans, Pennsylvania Dutch, Yiddish, various regional German dialects, and also studied Spanish, Latin, and Russian. My undergraduate degree was liberal arts with a concentration in English literature and German (which I speak fluently).

I've had quite a bit of musical training and play piano and mandolin. I also like to garden, watch birds, and read.