We’re incredibly excited to have Dan joining the team under our NSF Contract. Dan will be working to improve our historical data and data quality tools pipeline, while also making broader contributions to the project as time allows. - James
I had originally worked on the Open States project as my first co-op at RIT during the summer of 2010. This was back when the project was named the 50 States Project and was based out of Sunlight Labs. That summer, I created scripts for 5 different states, and a small side quest on a Code’s Law project for the internal hackathon. After that summer, I would later do contract work for the project in my senior year at RIT and keep tabs on the project. I would often see James at civic tech conferences as I jumped in and out of the community for a few years.
Post graduation, a few jobs in the NYC area, and some time back at Rochester working as a developer, I would find myself using the Open States project as a prime example during my time as the FOSS@MAGIC Research Associate and Community Liaison at RIT. My main job was to organize hackathons, connect students to open source projects, run a FOSS speaker series, and connect with the wider community about open source related projects at RIT. I would often cite the project, along with other civic tech projects, on how open source could have an impact on the world.
After my stint at MAGIC and a year within the K-12 University Center teaching kids how to program and make things, I found myself looking for a job again. Once I heard that the Open States project was back in action and looking for a developer, how could I not jump at the opportunity. I’m excited to be back on the project again. Dealing with all of the intricacies with various state government websites are coming back to me.
Outside of programming, I co-organize Maker Faire Rochester, the FIRST Robotics Finger Lakes Regional, and tons of hands-on STEAM based events and projects across the Western New York Region. I also sit on the board of ROC Game Dev, represent New York State for the Nation of Makers non-profit, and as a committee member for the Finger Lakes Regional STEM Hub.