Brian DeRenzi

Computer Science & Engineering
University of Washington
Box 352350
Seattle, WA 98195
http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/bderenzi/
bderenzi@cs.washington.edu


Research Interests

My research focuses on applying appropriate technology to the health care in low-income countries. More broadly, I am interested in how technologies can be used at the grassroots level in low-income regions to positively combat global inequality and social injustice.


Education

2008 (Expected) University of Washington - M.S. in Computer Science.
Thesis: e-IMCI: Improving Pediatric Health Care in Low-Income Countries
Advisor: Gaetano Borriello, Tapan S. Parikh
2006 University of California, Santa Barbara - B.Sc. in Computer Engineering (highest honors).
Advisor: Ryan Kastner.


Awards

2008 Fulbright Research Fellowship
2008 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
2006-2007 Bob Bandes Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching - University of Washington
2006 IEC Everitt Award - UCSB Computer Engineering
2005-2006 Culler Scholarship - UCSB College of Engineering
2004-2005 Harold J. & Mary E. Miller Scholarship - UCSB College of Engineering
2002-2006 Robert C. Byrd Scholarship - State of California
2002-2006 Chevron Student Scholarship - Chevron Corporation


Employment

2007 - Present University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Research Assistant
Research assistant working with Dr. Gaetano Borriello and Dr. Tapan Parikh. Currently researching ways to aid health workers in low-income countries at the point of care using mobile devices (PDAs and mobile phones).
2006 - 2007 University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Teaching Assistant
Teaching assistant for CSE 370, introduction to digital design, during the Fall 2006 and Winter 2007 quarters. Ran two three hour labs, setting up the labs and fielding student questions. Graded homework and posted solutions for approximately 50 students per quarter.
2006 International Service Learning, Moshi, Tanzania
Student Medical Volunteer
Traveled to remote villages in Tanzania to observe living conditions, diagnose illness, and deliver medicines under the supervision of local doctors. Visited three regions with limited access to health care in two regions. Saw hundreds of patients over three weeks, delivering over one hundred pounds of medicine and collecting census data.
2005 American Red Cross, Gonzales, Louisiana
Disaster Relief Volunteer
Volunteered after Hurricane Katrina to work with the Red Cross at disaster relief sites both at the headquarters in Baton Rouge and a shelter in Gonzales, Louisiana. Coordinated volunteer placement at the headquarters. Worked for ten days at a shelter developing a Microsoft Access application to track residents. Helped residents reunite with family members and assisted with financial aid applications. Procured supplies for shelter operation.
2004 - 2007 Pacific Swell Networks Inc. Hermosa Beach, CA
Lead Software Engineer
Joined a startup to build the flagship product to do remote management of desktop computers for small to medium sized companies in the Los Angeles, CA area. Designed and built major components in the ticketing and billing system. Determined major design points such as programming language, technology, and deployment. Created large web applications for clients under strict deadlines.
2004 - 2006 University of California, Santa Barbara Goleta, CA
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Independently researched compiler modifications to compile a high level language to a hardware description language in order to gain significant speed improvements when using reconfigurable hardware. Presented my projects and research papers at the Research In Science and Engineering (RISE) internship program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Learned and used SUIF, a large compiler system created at Stanford University to implement compiler optimization in an intermediate representation. Developed and utilized benchmarks for thoroughly testing a new instruction scheduling algorithm based on the Ant Colony MIN-MAX Heuristic.
2004 Chevron Corporation, San Ramon, CA
Information Technology Intern
Facilitated maintenance for over 500 servers, built 20 production servers, and migrated 6 applications from Windows Server 2000 to Windows Server 2003. Designed and implemented a hardware evergreen process to keep servers built to a preproduction state in a 'server pool', reducing build and deployment time by over 40%. Partnered in a cross team environment to eliminate errors in the Windows Server 2003 build. Documented all work to reduce time, improve processes, and spread overall knowledge.
2003 - 2005 University of California, Santa Barbara Goleta, CA
Web Application Developer
Created web based applications to streamline data flow and increase productivity, while still handling all professor and graduate student website requests. Created a web based application for gas recharges, reducing time spent on the calculations and processing by over 75%. Designed and implemented a project to create a set of reusable code modules, saving 40+ hours on each new PHP web application by having a reusable base.


Publications

Refereed Journal Publications


Refereed Conference Publications


Refereed Workshop Publications



Invited Presentations


Student Supervision

2008 - present Erik Turnquist
2008 - present Laura Pina