About Me - Ryan D. Lewis

A little introduction to who I am, what I’ve done, and all that jazz.

University of Michigan¶

A winding path to figuring out what I want to be when I grow up, chronicled.

Spent the next summer as a Software Development Intern at Teradyne, Inc.
Started working as a Computer Lab Attendant for NIU’s Residential Technologies Department, aka ResTech.
Spent the following Summer as a IT/Systems Intern at State Farm.
Returned to ResTech in the fall, now as a HelpDesk technician.
Went back to State Farm for another summer internship, this time in the freshly remixed Enterprise Technology division.
Came back to the HelpDesk in the fall for one last semester.
Work as a Research Assistant in the ddiLab through my senior year.

Spent the summer after graduating with my B.S. as a Senior Research Aide at Argonne National Laboratory’s Leadership Computing Facility (ANL’s ALCF)
Became a Graduate Research Assistant in the ddiLab, with a Visiting Student appointment continuing my work at ANL, for both years of my Master’s at NIU.
Returned to the ALCF the following 2 summers as a Research Aide.

Started as a Robotics and Software Engineer at Argonne National Laboratory’s Rapid Prototyping Lab in September of 2023.

2 semesters as a Freshman working on my first research experience in NIU’s amazing Research Rookies program. Explored Photogrammetry under Dr. Michael Papka in the Data, Devices, and Interactions Laboratory (ddiLab).
Another 2 semesters as a Sophomore in the same lab, now as a Research Rookies Peer Mentor. This time I explored 3D Printing solutions of complex brain structures.
(If you’re curious, you can check out the blog for those 4 semesters, forever preserved in it’s young, innocent state on this WordPress site).
A semester in the ddiLab with a PROMISE scholar’s grant, exploring interactions between 3D printing, muscle sensing, and VR.
2 semesters as an undergraduate research aide in the ddiLab, working with the Array of Things Dataset, PostgreSQL, Virtual Reality, and 3D printing. (Even got two pieces in an art exhibit, somehow!)

2 years at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility doing performance log analysis and visualization for their Leadership Supercomputers (mostly Mira and Theta), while also working as a Graduate Research Assistant in the ddiLab.
2 years in Argonne’s CELS directorate working on Self-Directing Laboratories and Autonomous Discovery, first as an independent study project and then as a visiting student and research aide.

What I did at school while I wasn’t studying.

NIU Presidential Scholar and University Honors Student.
PROMISE Scholar.
Member of the Lambda Sigma National Sophomore Honors Society.
Four years as the Lead Programmer for NIU’s Mars Rover Team, one of which I was also the Team President for.
Occasional consultant of the NIU Robotics Team

Ya know, that thing that I definitely have.