When I was a kid I liked to play with wires, batteries, and other electronic parts that I used to build strange contraptions with my brother Alan. As it turned out, the things I learned doing that would turn out to be a good deal more useful for my career than what I learned when I went to college at Georgetown University. In the mid 70's, I noticed an article in Radio/Electronics magazine by Don Lancaster that showed how to build a computer from readily available parts. It took me a couple of years, but I finally got the thing to work. In the meantime, I moved to San Francisco where I got a job at North Star Computers. In 1980 I moved to Charlottesville, and the following year I went to work for the University of Virginia. Through the decade that followed, my job involved me with many of the technological changes that swept Universities across the country: the move from paper to electronic information; development of small-scale information systems; and the networking revolution that has changed everything.

• Distributed Object Technology:This is an area that I believe will prove to be critical in the next 5 years as the limits of current architectures become more and more apparent. I am interested in the next generation of standards, particularly as they relate to the structure of administrative systems in a university setting.
• Moving to Electronic Information:The process of moving from paper-based to electronic systems has long been a theme of my work, and I have participated in several process-simplification efforts here at U.Va. that have focused on that task. The most important work I have done in this area relates to the development of a web-based electronic forms for the University.

• The Electronic Filing Cabinet:My group is currently involved in an effort to develop an integrated document management system that makes use of low-cost desktop scanners and generic WWW clients.
• Document Sharing Task Force:I am a member of a Common Solutions Group task force investigating solutions to the problem of sharing documents across the internet.
• Lotus Notes: I am coordinating a test use of Lotus Notes by some of the University's high-level information technology administrators.
• Technology Forcast: I am responsible for working with the Director of Policy and Planning (Chip German) to develop the technology forecasting component of the department's strategic planning document.

Click here for update on results of U.Va. E-Forms Project