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EUGENE CHEN
eugene@ideaowl.com
Online: https://ideaowl.com/resume

Multiple public visualizations w/ Tech+Data+Design+Leadership, AI MSc, started
  in Big Tech
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------
ACADEMICS:
----------

> University of Alberta MSc in Computing Science, Nov '23
  · Graduated with a 3.9 GPA and 3 publications on AI in games, Nominated Best
      Paper (Top 3 of 75+ submissions)

> University of Alberta BSc in Electrical Engineering with the Co-op Option, Dec
    '08
  · Average Graduating GPA of 3.9 (last 2 years), Graduated with Distinction
      (3.7 overall)

-------------------------
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES:
-------------------------

> Technical Consulting, Paid Contract Roles: Multiple projects as contractor,
    often extended contracts by clients, '23 – Ongoing
  * Contracting by choice, I've turned down permanent role offers
  · Design+Dev Co-Lead on World Bank Human Capital Index Plus (HCI+) Insights &
      Dashboard project
  · Design+Dev Principal of an upcoming Canada-wide funder & charity $ flow
      project with Imagine Canada
  · Full Stack Developer (Primarily DB + Backend) on ACEs (Adverse Childhood
      Experiences) search engine with ACESHub
  · Senior Solutions Architect assessing and collaborating on critical gov tech
      projects through Code for Canada
  · Co-Lead Developer on app that visualizes $B of underclaimed benefit for
      Child Poverty Action Lab (CPAL)
  · Lead Developer on fully bilingual, accessible visualization on mineral
      exploration data with Natural Resources Canada

> Full-Time MSc in Computing Science, Completion, and Streetview Project, '22 –
    '23
  · Completed thesis on using AI to determine difficulty in games, published and
      nominated for Best Paper
  · Graduated with a 3.9 GPA and had 2 additional research publications
  · Contributed to Coursera course on Reinforcement Learning
  · Spent a few months creating 500km of Google Streetview footage for the
      cycling community

> Darkhorse Analytics (Edmonton), CTO & Director, Feb '12 – May '22
  · Created many interactive visualizations for key clients like Procter &
      Gamble to impress others and make executive decisions
  · Handled backend work on multithreaded, multi-instance server code with load
      balancing, auto scaling, CDN, etc
  · Created, helped generate and handle viral content (multiple reddit
      frontpages, millions of impressions)
  · Led technical strategy, hired and managed our development team
  · Organize company hackathons, one won top prizes for Apps for Alberta
      Competition 2015 ($60K of $70K prize pool)
  · Led our hiring process, was an active mentor and advisor to colleagues
  · Present and help teach data visualizations in the community through
      workshops and presentations
  · Collaborated as co-owner to help grow Darkhorse Analytics into a
      multi-million dollar, internationally consulting firm

> BoardSuite Corp (Toronto), Director of Technology Development, Feb '11 – Jan
    '12
  · Assembled, trained, and managed development team. Migrated existing tech to
      open source platforms
  · Took over product management, forecasting and planning responsibilities
  · Implemented Agile processes, generated technology documentation and
      intellectual property

> nForm User Experience (Edmonton), Contracted Developer at nForm User
    Experience, Oct '10 – Jan '11
  · Led development and fleshed out features and functionality on new, V1
      product
  · Responsible for implementation of critical and sensitive components (such as
      authentication and admin tools)
  · Delivered fully functional product ahead of timelines

> Firenest Innovations Inc (Edmonton), CEO & Co-founder, Apr '09 – Oct '10
  · Directed company, business strategy and execution
  · Development of full business plan and delivered company presentations,
      pitches - VenturePrize runners up ($40k)
  · Responsible for front-end UI, UX design plus initial infrastructure
      development
  · Led market research, customer feedback and acquisition efforts

> Degree-Required Co-op + Summer 3-4 Month Work Terms, ~2 Years Total Required
    from 2004: Received highest possible "Excellent" grade on each of my Co-op
    Work Terms from employers
  * Received highest possible "Excellent" grade on each of my Co-op Work Terms
      from employers
  · Microsoft Startup Labs (Cambridge), Intern Program Manager, Summer '08
    ~ Managed three new skunkworks projects for a future product line
    ~ Fleshed out concept, created deck, and presented proposed product to
        senior C-Level management
    ~ Other interns outside of direct team voluntarily followed and helped me on
        a volunteer project
  · Microsoft Visual Studio Team System (Redmond), Intern Program Manager,
      Summer '07
    ~ Collaborated with various teams for research project on a future product
    ~ Designed and implemented a unique, trackable online repository for project
    ~ Produced award-winning project for a Microsoft-wide intern design
        competition
  · Microsoft Windows Live ID (Redmond), Intern Program Manager, Fall '06
    ~ Worked on improving partner/Live ID experience, collaborated with MS
        Research on internal project
    ~ Delivered on functional specs for CardSpace and rich-client Windows Live
        ID auth integration
    ~ Community Committee Member, Microsoft's 1st Asian Pacific Leadership
        Development Conference
  · BlackBerry (Waterloo), 3GPP Compliance Specialist, Winter '06
    ~ Created Asset Management System to track compliance for multi-million
        dollar equipment
    ~ Produced a 32-page co-op report on the future of the wireless
        (telecommunications) industry
    ~ Worked with GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS technologies, wireless industry
        operations
  · Mediashaker Inc (Edmonton), SW Developer, Summer '05
    ~ Contributed to Mediashaker's CMS (Content Management System)
    ~ Liaised and met various clients' software development needs for multiple
        projects
  · Worldwide Link Ltd (Edmonton), Associate, Summer '04
    ~ Developed company site, filtering programs, represented Worldwide Link Ltd
        in Kuala Lumpur
    ~ Planned, rolled out solutions to Worldwide Link's growing I.T.
        infrastructural needs

> Ministry of Defense (Singapore) (Singapore), Training R & Management Centre at
    Ministry of Defense (Singapore), Oct '00 – Feb '03
  · Developed a multi-user DBMS, presented in conference in India, did project
      in Australia
  · Won several national (Singapore) awards for safety and efficiency projects

> DBS Bank (Singapore), Credit Risk Policy & Monitoring at DBS Bank, Sep '99 –
    Aug '00
  · Developed and helped perform training for two separate corporate credit
      analysis applications
  · Oversaw programs' and project completion, maintenance and enterprise/server
      deployment

-----------------------------------
LEADERSHIP/VOLUNTEERING EXPERIENCE:
-----------------------------------

> Tech Co-Lead for Andrew Knack's successful mayoral campaign, Mar '25 – Oct '25

> Co-chaired the 2024 Canadian Open Data Summit, focusing on attendee outreach
    and pre-summit programming, '24

> Canada MSF (Multi-Stakeholder Forum
    (https://open.canada.ca/en/multi-stakeholder-forum-open-government)) Civil
    Society Member on Open Government, Mar '23 – Ongoing

> Chair of the Canadian Open Data Society (https://opendatasociety.ca/), Nov '22
    – May '25

> President of the Canadian Open Data Society, Nov '21 – Oct '22

> Executive team for Andrew Knack's successful city council re-election, Sep '20
    – Oct '21

> Co-founder and board director of the Canadian Open Data Society, Nov '19 –
    Ongoing

> Co-organizer of BetaCityYEG (https://betacityyeg.ca/), Edmonton's civic tech
    meetup, Oct '18 – Ongoing

> Citizen advisory group member for City of Edmonton's open data initiatives,
    Sep '17 – Sep '20

> Data Director on cabinet for Don Iveson's successful mayoral re-election, Jun
    '17 – Nov '17

> Committee member focused on special projects, Edmonton's NextGen, Jan '17 –
    Dec '18

> Co-founded 'Volunteer with NextGen' events, providing group volunteering
    opportunities for new volunteers, Dec '15

> Participant and Director at Edmonton's civic tech meetup, Oct '15 – Sep '18

> Co-chair of the Ignite Working Group, Edmonton's NextGen, Oct '14 – Dec '16

> Client/Mentor for University Capstone Design Project on cocktails data
    visualization, Jan '14 – May '14

> Client/Mentor for University Capstone Design Project on emergency dispatcher
    game, Jan '13 – May '13

> Client/Mentor for University Capstone Design Projects on video blimp and blind
    sonar systems, Sep '11 – May '12

> Volunteer making Edmonton an engaging place to live for 18-40 year olds, Aug
    '11 – Oct '14

> Co-founded Meaet, a microfunding initiative for grassroots projects that has
    run 10+ times, Aug '11

> VP Awareness for the University of Alberta Golden Key International Honour
    Society Chapter, Sep '08 – Apr '09

> Representative as student group executive at University of Alberta Student
    Union Leadership Summit, '08

> Director of Programs for the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students
    Congress 2008, Oct '07 – Jan '08

> Board Director for all divisions (~2300 members and staff), Jul '06 – Mar '09

> Inter-Divisional Council Chair for all divisions (~700 members) at WCRI, May
    '06 – Aug '06

> Committee Member on RIM Co-op Social Committee at Research In Motion, Jan '06
    – Apr '06

> Divisional Chair at Waterloo Cooperative Residence Incorporated, Jan '06 – Apr
    '06

> President of the University of Alberta SPIE Student Chapter, May '05 – Apr '06

> Cofounder and Vice President of the University of Alberta SPIE Student
    Chapter, Sep '04 – Apr '05

> Associate Tech Editor for The Bridge publication, Sep '04 – Apr '05

> VP Academics for the First Year Engineering Club at University of Alberta, Oct
    '03 – Apr '04

-------------
PUBLICATIONS:
-------------

> "Entropy as a Measure of Puzzle Difficulty", AIIDE, '23

> "Learning Curricula for Humans: An Empirical Study with Puzzles from The
    Witness", IJCAI, '22

> "Image-to-Level: Generation and Repair", AIIDE, '20

-----------------------------------
TECHNICAL WORK SHARED IN THE MEDIA:
-----------------------------------

> This is Edmonton Coverage: 3D Map + Storytelling + Demographics tool covered
    across multiple outlets, '22
  · "Understanding Edmonton: Interactive 3D map gives new insight of city",
      CityNews. Video
      (https://edmonton.citynews.ca/video/2022/04/14/edmonton-creators-make-3d-interactive-map-from-open-data/),
      Article (https://edmonton.citynews.ca/2022/04/14/interactive-3d-map/)
  · "Developer turns data into 'useful and magical things'", on Taproot Edmonton
      (https://edmonton.taproot.news/news/2022/05/27/developer-turns-data-into-useful-and-magical-things)
  · TV snippet featuring the This is Edmonton project, CBC Edmonton News
  · "A new 3D map spells out the city's data in a new way", on Radio Active
      (https://radioactive.ca/2022/04/14/a-new-3d-map-spells-out-the-citys-data-in-a-new-way/)

> "Project adds hundreds of kilometres of bike paths to Google Street View",
    Taproot Edmonton
    (https://edmonton.taproot.news/news/2022/11/15/project-adds-hundreds-of-kilometres-of-bike-paths-to-google-street-view),
    '22

> TrackTheRecovery.org Coverage: Citations of TrackTheRecovery.org
    (https://tracktherecovery.org) on the U.S. economy from COVID in real time,
    '20
  · "How have students fared in the coronavirus pandemic? New data sheds some
      light.", ABC News
      (https://abcnews.com/US/students-fared-coronavirus-pandemic-data-sheds-light/story?id=73346272)
  · "A new paper finds stimulus checks, small business aid, and “reopening”
      can’t rescue the economy", Vox
      (https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/6/17/21293353/coronavirus-covid-19-economy-recession-unemployment-raj-chetty)
  · "The Dark Side Of The Recovery Revealed In Big Data", NPR
      (https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2020/10/27/927842540/the-dark-side-of-the-recovery-revealed-in-big-data)
  · "Job Market's 2.6 Million Missing People Unnerves Star Harvard Economist",
      Bloomberg
      (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-18/job-market-update-2-6-million-missing-people-in-us-labor-force-shakes-economist?embedded-checkout=true)

> Opportunity Atlas Media Coverage: Worked as tech architect, lead developer on
    OpportunityAtlas.org (https://opportunityatlas.org) released to major
    outlets, '18
  · "The American Dream Is Harder To Find In Some Neighborhoods", NPR
      (https://www.npr.org/2018/10/01/649701669/the-american-dream-is-harder-to-find-in-some-neighborhoods)
  · "Detailed Maps Show How Neighborhoods Shape Children for Life", The New York
      Times
      (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/upshot/maps-neighborhoods-shape-child-poverty.html)

> "Edmonton data fanatic animates a century of city growth in 6 seconds", CBC
    (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/open-data-map-urban-sprawl-edmonton-1.4740396),
    '18

> "Population growth visualized: Century of sprawl in Edmonton", Global News
    (https://globalnews.ca/news/4328283/edmonton-urban-sprawl-population-growth-map/),
    '18

> "Mapping expert makes detailed census data available to all Edmonton election
    candidates", Edmonton Journal
    (https://www.edmontonjournal.com/local-news/mapping-expert-makes-detailed-census-data-available-to-all-edmonton-election-candidateshttps://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/mapping-expert-makes-detailed-census-data-available-to-all-edmonton-election-candidates),
    '17

> "Don Iveson using new tool to reach voters", CTV News, '17

> "Hundreds of thousands of polygons rendered on the fly", Mapbox Blog
    (https://blog.mapbox.com/hundreds-of-thousands-of-polygons-rendered-on-the-fly-9eb0b81b64f3),
    '17

> Property Assessments Coverage: Dynamic map of over 300k buildings by property
    assessment values, '17
  · "Edmonton Journal Coverage of Property Assessments", Edmonton Journal
      (https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/is-your-property-tax-fair-new-mapping-project-give-residents-tools-to-better-figure-it-out)
  · "New map shows visualization of Edmonton home assessments", MetroNews
      (https://web.archive.org/web/20180313124024/http:/www.metronews.ca/news/edmonton/2017/06/11/new-map-shows-visualization-of-edmonton-home-assessments.html)

> LinkYEG Coverage: "Edmontonian creates app to help people in need find
    Edmonton services", '15
  · "'That's power for people:' New app aims to help Edmonton's less fortunate",
      Global News
      (https://globalnews.ca/news/2387805/thats-power-for-people-new-app-aims-to-help-edmontons-less-fortunate/)
  · "Edmontonian creates app to help people in need find Edmonton services",
      MetroNews

-------------------------------------
PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE, ONLINE PROJECTS:
-------------------------------------

> World Bank Human Capital Index Plus
    (https://humancapital.worldbank.org/hciplus/): Insights and dashboard for
    the WB Group's new HCI+ initiative, '25 – Ongoing

> Canadian Open Data Directory (https://directory.opendatasociety.ca): Fully
    bilingual dataset & directory of Open Data producing organizations in
    Canada., '25

> Minerals Exploration and Development visualizations
    (https://natural-resources.canada.ca/mining-statistics/exploration/at-a-glance):
    Federal government (NRCan) site that is responsive, bilingual, accessible,
    '24

> MSc Thesis Materials (https://ideaowl.com/thesis/): Academic publications,
    code-driven slides, interactive plots + data, '23

> This is Edmonton (https://thisisyeg.dha.io): Interactive 3D map and dashboard
    visualizing Edmonton demographics using Tableau, '22

> 500km of Google Streetview (https://ideaowl.com/s/bike360/): A project to
    cover bike routes with Google Streetview footage, '22

> TrackTheRecovery.org (https://tracktherecovery.org): Track the economic impact
    of COVID on people, businesses, communities across the US in real time, '20

> The Opportunity Atlas (https://opportunityatlas.org): Visualizing upward
    mobility by location, race, and gender for 20M Americans across 30 years,
    Oct '18

> The MDP Playground (https://mdp.ai): Generating, analyzing, and visualizing
    Markov Chains for debugging and more robust benchmarking, '18

> A Century of Growth in 6 Seconds
    (https://globalnews.ca/news/4328283/edmonton-urban-sprawl-population-growth-map/):
    A 6 second animated GIF showing a century of city growth, covered by the
    CBC, '18

> AI vs Human Puzzle Choices: Web version of puzzles from The Witness game for
    comparing human performance with AI-selected puzzles, '18

> Comparing Property Assessments (https://assess.dha.io): Storytelling and
    dynamically visualizing hundreds of thousands of buildings, '17

> MapInSeconds.com (https://mapinseconds.com): Create choropleth maps in seconds
    by pasting spreadsheet data, '16

> A Million Baby Names (https://babynames.dha.io): A storytelling approach in
    highlighting patterns of baby names in Alberta, '15

> LinkYEG.ca (https://linkyeg.ca): A fork of Link-SF connecting homeless and
    low-income residents with critical resources nearby, '15

> World Chat Clock (https://ideaowl.com/s/worldchatclock/): Schedule meetings
    across continents without needing to know anything about time zones, '14

> #hackYEG Budget Visualization (https://ideaowl.com/s/hackyeg-budget/): A
    unique visualization showing the net revenue/costs for each department and
    branch, '14

> Hockey (NHL) Impact (https://hockeyimpact.darkhorseanalytics.com/): Do metrics
    like payroll, penalty minutes, save % impact NHL performance?, '13

--------------------------------
PRESENTATIONS, TALKS, WORKSHOPS:
--------------------------------

> Hands-on, Half/Full-Day Technical Workshops for Non-Technical Audiences, '18 –
    '25
  · "Build Your Own Dashboard, App, or Game Using Generative AI", Tech Yukon AI
      & Data Series, Whitehorse, Yukon
  · "Build your own Beautiful, Detailed, and Interactive Map in 4 Hours",
      OpenVisConf, Paris
  · "Generative AI Learn & Create-a-thon", Canadian Open Data Summit, Edmonton
  · "Build Your Own Dashboard or App Using Generative AI", Canadian Open Data
      Summit, Fredericton, New Brunswick

> "Generative AI Create-a-thon", AI + Data Learning Series for Tech Yukon,
    Whitehorse, Yukon, '24

> "Data, AI, and Art: Viral + Impactful Visualizations", AI + Data Learning
    Series for Tech Yukon, Whitehorse, Yukon, '24

> "AI Goldilocks and the 3 Billion Puzzles", AAAI Conference on AI and
    Interactive Digital Entertainment, Salt Lake City, '23

> "AI & the Creative Impulse: An Opportunity & A Dilemma", Capital City Art, '23

> "Exploring ChatGPT *Live*, with Useful, Wacky, and Scary Examples",
    International Open Data Day, '23

> "Impactful Visualizations and How to Create Them", Canadian Open Data Summit,
    Victoria, BC, '23

> "How to Use Visualization to Get Your Work Noticed (and Understood)", Alberta
    Machine Intelligence Institute Talent Program, '23

> "What I Wish I Knew as a Grad Student", Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute
    as Part of the U of A CompSci CMPUT 603, '23

> "Crowdsourcing Ideas for a National Hackathon + Learn-a-thon", Canadian Open
    Data Summit, Whitehorse, Yukon, '22

> "From Idea to Perfect Pitching and Feedback", Data-Driven Entrepreneurship &
    Innovation Program, Whitehorse, Yukon, '22

> "(Top) 30 Visualizations that Blew My Mind and Will Inspire You", Canadian
    Open Data Summit, Virtual, '21

> "How to Get People Excited (About Your Data)", Canadian Open Data Summit,
    Virtual, '21

> "Outcomes and Learnings from Five Years of Local Civic Tech Innovation and
    Engagement", Code For Canada Showcase, '19

> "Achieving Sustainable, Transparent, and Efficient Outcomes with AI", OGP
    Global Summit, '19

> "Visualizing Python Data using Socket.io", EdmontonPY Meetup, '19

> "Getting Started with Open Data Workshop", International Open Data Day at the
    Edmonton Public Library, '19

> "Hands-on Workshops on d3 and Tableau", StudentDevCon (Conference for
    Post-Secondary Students), '18, '19, '20, '21, '22

> "Mapping the Crisis in Affordable Housing", Locate (Mapbox conference), San
    Francisco, '18

> "JS to D3", Exchange.js (Edmonton's Javascript Meetup), '18

> "mdp.ai: Dancing, Colourful MDPs for Research & Fun", Alberta Machine
    Intelligence Institute Tea Time Talk, '18

> Best Lightning Talk, International Open Data Day at the Edmonton Public
    Library, '18

> "Visualizations Driving Decisions", Canadian Open Data Summit, Niagara Falls,
    '18

> "Making Boring Charts Beautiful Workshop", International Open Data Day at the
    Edmonton Public Library, '18

> "The Hidden Ways Open Data Transforms Society through Innovation", Canadian
    Open Data Summit, '17

> "A Taste of D3: Why, What's Possible, and... How!", BetaCity YEG, Jobber,
    Grant MacEwan University, '16, '17

> "Make Your Open Data Dance with D3 Workshop", Alberta Open Data Summit &
    University of Alberta, '16

> Presenter, Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations Academic
    Conference, Beijing, Aug '07

> Presenter, International Convention for Quality Control Circles (ICQCC),
    Lucknow, India, '02

-------
AWARDS:
-------

> Nominated for Best Paper, Top 3 (of 75+ submissions) with Entropy as a Measure
    of Puzzle Difficulty, '23

> Winner, Unorthodox Prize at Hack-GPT, Edmonton's LLM Hackathon (think
    ChatGPT), '23

> Winner, Single-Button Category, BCI (brain Computer Interface) Game Jam 2022,
    '22

> Shortlist, Information is Beautiful Awards for assess.dha.io
    (https://assess.dha.io), '18

> Best Lightning Talk, on "Data Looks Better Naked" at International Open Data
    Day at the Edmonton Public Library, '18

> Best Overall and Audience Pick, Exchange.js Showcase (Edmonton's Javascript
    Meetup), '17

> Longlist, Information is Beautiful Awards for MapInSeconds.com
    (https://mapinseconds.com), '16

> Winner, Edmonton's Open Data Hackathon, '16

> 3rd Place, Battlehack Singapore Hackathon (of 40+ teams), '15

> Shortlist, Information is Beautiful Awards for WorldChatClock.com, '14

> Winner (over $10K), Apps4Edmonton 2010 ("The Way We Plan" with Statistics
    Edmonton), '10

> Runners Up (over $40K), TEC VenturePrize 2010 (Alberta-wide Business Plan
    Competition), '10

> Golden Geer Award (in recognition of years of outstanding service to
    engineering students), '09

> 2nd Place, Innovative Design, Western Engineering Competition (teams across
    Western Canada), '08

> Microsoft Popfly Prototyping Design Competition Winner (Microsoft-wide intern
    prototyping design competition), '07

> Shell Top-Valued Engineering Undergraduate Leadership Award, '05 – '07

> National In-Course Millennium Excellence Award, '04 – '05

-----------------------------------
INTERNATIONAL, NATIONAL EXPERIENCE:
-----------------------------------