Rachel A. Pildis phone:708-613-5336
910 N. Taylor Ave. e-mail: rachel@pildis.com
Oak Park, IL 60302 http://www.pildis.com/rachel

Summary:

With a history of learning new technology quickly and providing clean, workable, and well-documented solutions for a variety of problems, I strive to provide high quality leading-edge applications for world-class organizations.

Employment History:

AdGooroo, LLC -- Chicago, IL 2006 - present
Senior Application Developer
  • Optimized and expanded our search engine advertising data collection software (C# and VB.NET), increasing both throughput and coverage by a factor of 8
  • Created C#/VB.NET applications to consume XML web services, process data, and analyze data quality
  • Monitored and optimized a 2.5 Tb SQL Server database along with a daily 10 Gb data load and aggregation program

Leo Burnett USA/re:Sources USA -- Chicago, IL 1999 - 2006
Development Consultant - 2003-2006
Applications Analyst - 1999-2002
  • Took a lead role in the design and development of the intranet/extranet for Leo Burnett using an N-tier structure, VB.NET/ASP.NET languages, and a SQL Server back end
  • Worked extensively with XML web services, including design and creation of a suite of database services consumed by several business units, XML schema validation, and synchronous and asynchronous use and integration of external services
  • Created automatic XML/XSL/XPath processes to synchronize data between Lotus Domino, Oracle, and SQL Server databases
  • Designed and led development on repeated C# and VB.NET intranet/extranet projects

Business Logic Corporation -- Chicago, IL 1997 - 1999
Internet Application Developer
  • Acted as Development Lead for the company's online 401(k) product on Edify (a 4GL package for web and voice response units), which was installed at over five major 401(k) provider institutions
  • Worked as a developer on a range of other online banking applications for leading banks and credit unions, using Edify and Java/XML/SilverStream

Northwestern Univ., Dept. of Physics & Astronomy - Evanston, IL 1996 - 1997
Research Associate
  • Maintained and enlarged a large database of astrophysical information; created computer simulations to determine galaxy cluster detection rates

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics - Cambridge, MA 1995 - 1996
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • Designed and directed research, including writing articles for refereed journals

University of Michigan, Dept. of Astronomy - Ann Arbor, MI 1990 - 1995
Graduate Student
  • Designed own thesis project, including the development of new X-ray and optical data reduction techniques and the modeling of galaxy formation
  • Coordinated additional project that involved maintaining a large database of heterogeneous information for collaborators across the country

Computer Skills:

Operating Systems: Windows, Linux, UNIX, DOS, OS/2, VMS
Languages/Skills: C#, Visual Basic.NET, SQL, XML/XSD/XSL/XPath, ASP.NET, regular expressions, Java, Perl, Visual Basic 6, LotusScript, JavaScript, HTML, FORTRAN
Databases: SQL Server, Oracle, ODBC, DB/2
Programs: MS Visual Studio.NET and .NET Framework (all versions 2003 to present); MS SQL Server 2000, 2005 & 2008; Subversion; MS Reporting Services; MS Visual SourceSafe; Lotus Notes/Domino; MS Project; Edify; standard MS Office and WordPerfect Office packages; numerous astronomical packages

Education:

Ph.D., Astronomy
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thesis: Compact Groups of Galaxies
 1995
M.S., Astronomy
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
 1991
B.A. summa cum laude, Physics
Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota		 1989

Memberships and Awards:

Jeopardy! champion - 3/15/2010
awarded the 1996 Ralph B. Baldwin Prize in Astrophysics and Space Sciences (University of Michigan)