About

For over two decades, I've been teaching at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), working with students from Newark and the broader region. My role has evolved from adjunct instructor to building the Enterprise AI program, but the core mission has remained constant: helping students from all backgrounds build careers in technology.

My technology journey started early—my father was a mainframe systems lead operator for Alcoa, and I grew up in a data center surrounded by various computers. In 1983, I received a Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer 2 for Christmas and taught myself to program. Since then, I've been continuously building systems and evolving with technology: early internet adopter on AOL, first iPhone owner, developer of one of the first MEAN stack frameworks that became Showedme.net (a SaaS application framework and learning management system), and creator of the iOS collaboration app Wrkbench.

I started as an adjunct instructor in 2002, and founded the Web Systems (WIS) program at NJIT. Over 23 years, I've created 8 regularly offered undergraduate and graduate courses, taught more than 10,000 students across 15 sections annually, and built curricula that Fortune 100 companies recruited from.

My teaching experience extends beyond higher education—I've worked with high schools, served as an AmeriCorps member at an urban after-school youth center in Pittsburgh teaching computers to children, and taught software engineering internationally to government employees in Zambia, Africa, implementing the e-government system and improving their development process by introducing UX design practices using Axure prototyping.

When ChatGPT launched, I started using it within days—and immediately recognized that everything had changed. Since then, I've immersed myself in studying LLM and vector embedding technology, building a series of research projects through NJIT capstone courses that implement advanced ETL pipelines combining LLM and machine learning techniques for NLP and knowledge graph construction to support RAG workflows for personalized knowledge product production.

As an early adopter of Vibe coding, I've combined my deep knowledge of enterprise software engineering and product development processes to develop innovative uses of Generative AI in enterprise software development—including AI-augmented QA review and advanced techniques to leverage AI in the day-to-day workflows of software engineers.

I'm now evolving the WIS program into the Enterprise AI degree—a natural progression driven by my research work and industry projects using Generative AI to train, augment, and automate software engineering and product development processes. This evolution reflects both market demand and my commitment to preparing students for emerging technology careers.

My students aren't just names on a roster. They're working at Amazon, Google, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and hundreds of other companies. They're CTOs, senior engineers, data scientists. Many are building their own companies right here in Newark. But I'm done watching qualified students ghost companies and talented Newark residents get overlooked. So I'm building bridges—real ones. Between students and hiring managers. Between AI hype and practical reality. Between Newark's untapped potential and New Jersey's tech ecosystem.