James Kerrane

329722 Georgia Tech Station                             github.com/thatrobotdev                             contact@jameskerrane.com

351 Ferst Dr NW,                                       linkedin.com/in/jameskerrane                                                    (720) 404-6001

Atlanta, GA 303322-1400                                           jameskerrane.com

EDUCATION

Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia                                                         May 2028

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science; Threads: Theory & Media (BSCS)

Relevant Coursework: Intro to Discrete Mathematics, Differential Calculus.

RELEVANT TECHNICAL SKILLS

Computing Languages and Technologies–Java, C, C++, C#, Unity.

Web Development–React, Gatsby, Docusaurus, Eleventy, JavaScript, Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap, Bulma.

Media Creation–Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Illustrator, Audition), Krita, Logic Pro, Open Broadcaster Software.

CERTIFICATIONS: Unity Certified User: Programmer–Unity, C#, Game Art/Design, Asset Management, Physics, Animation, Materials, and Effects.

EXPERIENCE

Motion ID – VR State Analysis Project Developer, Atlanta, Georgia                                            

Sep 2024 – Present

• Worked on VR Unity development team creating Quest 2/3/Pro, Apple Vision Pro applications to identify users based on movement and body metrics to ease VR workflows and research privacy implications.
• Worked on preliminary research decoding heart rate and stress metrics from controller movement and respiratory rate across current VR headsets (Quest 2/3/Pro, Apple Vision Pro).

Healthy Drinks Social Media Campaign Intern, Boulder, Colorado                                            

Feb 2021 – Jul 2021

• TikTok team leader on targeted social media campaign to educate Boulder County teens on the negative consequences of sugary drinks, the racism in industry marketing, and actively supporting healthy alternatives.
• Lobbied for passed Healthy Drinks in Kid’s Meals Ordinance to Longmont City Council requiring a healthy drink option as default on kid’s menus.
• Lead presenter for research and community outcomes for Healthy Drinks in Kid’s Meals Ordinance to Longmont City Council, Youth Council.
• Wrote two effective letters to the editor in local media to raise awareness around city ordinance and campaign spurring community involvement and support.
• Campaign received the Healthy Community Award at the 16th Annual Healthy Community Awards, honoring organizations who have worked to improve the health and well-being of Boulder County.

CodeDay CodeLabs Intern, Remote                                                                                                 Jul 2020

• Built open-source Chrome extension integrating with team member’s computational and recurrent neural networks with beam search to generate image captions to make the web more accessible to blind or visually impaired users. [github.com/thatrobotdev/altML/extension]
• Built open-source Python flask server that passes requests from the Chrome extension to the machine learning model. Designed to be modular to be easily auditable, supporting a user-defined model or credential-backed API request to allow self-hosting or external integration of a different machine learning model. [github.com/thatrobotdev/altML/tree/main/flask_server]
• Created 11-minute “tech-talk”, a video development progress update, and a demo video to demonstrate progress and awareness about the project for blind or visually impaired users that could take advantage of the tool.
• Chosen as one of 4 CodeDay Labs staff favorite projects out of hundreds of other projects in the internship program.

PROGRAMMING PROJECTS

Unity VR Social Psychology Experimental Design [thatrobotdev.github.io/liminal-vr-study]                     

Aug 2023 – Present

• In a three-person development team, completed year-long virtual reality psychology experiment studying the effects of liminal spaces and space orientation on human discomfort.
• Created data-collection programming for custom virtual reality app for Meta Quest 2/3 devices in Unity to facilitate quantitative and qualitative analysis with an in-headset survey and tracked metrics.
• Administered secure data networking pipeline from 10 research headsets to a central database for data analysis and processing.
• Modeled and crafted a 3D environment based on a physical library.
• Presented project to Edtech conference ISTELive 24 and the Colorado State Science and Engineering Fair.

Supplemental Music Theory Guide Resource Website [old.theorybear.org]                                   

Aug 2023 – May 2024

• Used React, MDX, and Jamstack static site generator Docusaurus to write, build, and host a supplemental music theory guide website for choir, band, and orchestra students at Peak to Peak Charter School.
• Migrated and configured site to PHP-backend MediaWiki to allow non-technical students to add content.
• Trained team of website developers and music students to continue resource after graduation.

PRESENTATIONS

Jun 2024

• Original, Student-Developed VR programs for Cutting-Edge, In-Class Simulation Learning, ISTELive 24.
• Multidisciplinary Development of Virtual Reality Simulations for Social Science Classrooms, ISTELive 24.

LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Founder and Workshop Developer of Peak to Peak Hack Club, Peak to Peak Charter School                

Sep 2017 – May 2024

• Founded and led Hack Club chapter serving 100+ students over 7 years.
• Wrote and taught 40+ beginner-oriented computer science workshops in web development, cybersecurity, robotics, hardware projects, video game development, and open-source software contribution.
• Developed open-source club website facilitating 24 individual majority first-time code contributors from all over the world to contribute. [p2phack.club]
• Attended national leader retreat of club leaders in the world’s longest hackathon on land. Developed as a club leader and networked with 42 other club leaders across the globe.
• Developed a high school and middle school leadership team concurrently running meetings during COVID-19 to best support students on a digital platform during the pandemic.
• Mentored and prepared new leadership team for success by creating club transition plan and election process.

Elected President, Project Leader of Computer Science Honor Society, Peak to Peak Charter School        

Oct 2021 – May 2024

• Headed 15+ honor society meetings for 35 members.
• Managed 10 service-oriented project group leaders on development teams addressing mental health and equity gaps through computer science projects.
• Built mental health app in a development team providing counselor recommended resources and tools for students to manage anxiety. [apps.apple.com/app/p2p-mental-health/id6446338010]

ADDITIONAL SKILLS AND INTERESTS

Languages: Working proficiency in Spanish; Native English speaker.                                           Duolingo Streak: 700+ days

Interests: Virtual Reality, Choir, Traveling, Video Production, Writing, Fantasy Books.          1,500+ GitHub Contributions