NEW to Berkeley Lab Computing Sciences Team
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October 30, 2009
Hing Chong Chow, ESnet Project Manager for the Advanced Network Initiative
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| Hing Chong Chow |
On September 21, Hing Chong Chow joined the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) team as project manager for the Advanced Network Initiative (ANI)—a project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will conduct research and development of a 100-gigabit computer network for science research.
"There are five phases for managing a project—initiation, planning, execution, control and closure. Currently we are in the initial phase, preparing a request for proposal for dark fibers and developing a preliminary project plan," says Chow, who initially began his professional career as a civil engineer designing highways, underground reservoirs and bridges.
After two years as a civil engineer, Chow realized that he did not want to be responsible for destroying nature and replacing it with heavy structures. He then worked in the Network Operations Center of MasterCard International's Asia Pacific Region, where he was inspired to use his engineering skills as a network engineer specializing in network facility and infrastructure. After three months at MasterCard International, Chow went back to school to pursue a degree in data processing and data communications from George Washington University in Saint Louis.
Originally from Malaysia, Chow came to the U.S. to pursue an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from West Virginia University. He then moved to Rolla, Missouri, to complete a master's degree in engineering management from the University of Missouri-Rolla. Chow also became a certified Project Management Professional before he moved to Broomfield, Colorado, where he served as project manager for the Professional Services Division of Level3 Communications. He continued updating his project management skills in Broomfield by attending Six Sigma training before beginning his post at ESnet in Northern California.
In his spare time, Chow enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters. He also loves to hike, play tennis and read.
Inder Monga, ESnet Network and Research Engineer
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| Inder Monga |
As a network and research engineer with ESnet, Inder Monga will be advancing networking services for collaborative and distributed science. He will contribute to ongoing ESnet research projects OSCARS and PerfSONAR, as well as the ANI project.
"Being in a challenging environment, always introducing new technologies and products to the marketplace, contributes to my research passion in networking technologies," says Monga, whose research interests include network virtualization, grid/cloud computing and sensor networking.
Monga has always been fascinated by devices that enable humans to communicate across vast distances. In fact, it was this interest that lured him to start solving challenging networking problems more than 16 years ago with Wellfleet Communications. Since then he has worked with the Canadian telecom company Nortel, where he focused on application and network convergence.
Originally from India, Monga spent about 19 years in the greater Boston area. He earned his undergraduate degree in electrical/electronics engineering from Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India, before coming to the U.S. to pursue his graduate studies in Boston University’s Electrical and Electronics Communication Systems Department.
Monga spends much of his spare time working with nonprofit organizations to help the "bottom of the pyramid." He is actively working with an organization called The Boston Pledge on teaching and encouraging entrepreneurship among the underprivileged regions of the world from India to Boston. In addition to volunteering, Monga also enjoys rollerblading and biking.
Andrew Lake, ESnet Software and Network Engineer
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| Andrew Lake |
As a software and network engineer with ESnet, Andrew Lake will be developing software for the OSCARS service, which allows users to reserve dynamic circuits across multiple networks, and perfSONAR, which dynamically monitors the performance of networks.
"I spent four years at Internet2, a national research backbone that primarily serves U.S. universities, where I was an engineer and worked on various software projects, especially those related to the provisioning of network resources. There I gained experience working with national backbones and networking knowledge I can carry over into my position at ESnet," says Lake.
Originally from Marshall, Michigan, Lake says he first became interested in networking in high school after taking a few networking classes and working on the school's network. He continued to pursue this interest as an undergraduate at Albion College in Albion, Mich., where he majored in mathematics and computer science. Lake earned his graduate degree at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
In his spare time, Lake likes to spend time with his wife hopelessly rooting for the Detroit Lions and playing Xbox 360.
Chris Tracy, ESnet Network Engineer
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| Chris Tracy |
This month, Chris Tracy joins ESnet as a network engineer who will primarily contribute research and development in the ANI project, as well as other special projects.
"I have been interested in telecommunications since the late 1980s, and I would say the specific moment that inspired this interest is when I got my first 300 bps modem and used it to call bulletin board systems both locally and around the U.S.," says Tracy.
Prior to joining ESnet, Tracy was a network/systems engineer for Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX) GigaPOP, where he was responsible for the deployment and operational management of the DRAGON network—a lambda-switched network which includes over 100 miles of fiber in the Washington D.C./Baltimore metro area. He also contributed to the strategic planning and provided engineering support for DRAGON, as well as Internet2's Hybrid Optical Packet Infrastructure (HOPI) and Dynamic Circuit Network (DCN) projects.
Prior to MAX, Tracy was a senior network engineer for seven years at a regional internet service provider in the Pittsburgh area, where he helped to manage the ISP's technical needs. Tracy received an undergraduate degree in computer engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2001 and is currently pursuing a master's degree in telecommunications management at University of Maryland University College (UMUC).
Originally from Uniontown, Pa., Tracy is working remotely for ESnet from Maryland. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, as well as playing the drums, piano, keyboard and doing audio and video production. He also enjoys cycling, hiking and winter sports.
Josef Grosch, ESnet Senior System Administrator
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| Josef Grosch |
Josef Grosch earned the nickname "Mr. FreeBSD" at Juniper Networks for his expertise in that operating system. As ESnet's new senior system administrator, he will continue providing support for the FreeBSD OS as well as the overall ESnet infrastructure.
"I have always been interested in networking. I started seriously working with computers after they stopped being batch machines and started having network connection," says Grosch.
Born and raised in New York City, Grosch moved to Berkeley, California approximately 13 years ago with his wife, Lisa. In his spare time, Grosch enjoys reading, photography, listening to music and camping.
Biju Jacob, BDMTC Computer Systems Engineer
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| Biju Jacob |
As the newest computer systems engineer in the Computational Research Division's Biological Data Management and Technology Center (BDMTC), Biju Jacob will be developing software for the Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) system.
Before arriving at Berkeley Lab, Jacob worked with Elsevier, a publisher of science and health information that serves over 30 million scientists worldwide. Jacob worked in the in St. Louis, Missouri, office developing software on a variety of platforms.
"My high school math teacher always told us that we must be 'intelligently lazy' when solving problems. This phrase and a longtime interest in electronics eventually inspired me to automate mundane chores, specifically by means of computational machines," says Jacob.
He notes that his admiration of UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab began while completing his graduate studies in computer science. He was very much in awe of the major contribution of UC Berkeley to computer and Internet software, and when he came across the story of Cliff Stoll, a Berkeley Lab employee who tracked down cyber criminals attempting to steal classified information from the U.S. to Russia in the 1990s, he became a huge fan of the lab as well.
"Never in my wildest imagination did I think I would work at Berkeley Lab and by default, be associated with UC Berkeley," says Jacob, who completed his undergraduate studies in physics, chemistry and mathematics at St. Joseph's College and Bangalore University in Bangalore, India.
After earning a bachelor of science degree, Jacob attended Loyola College in Chennai, India, eventually earning a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Madras. Two years later, he came to the U.S. to complete a master of science in computer science from the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Originally from Thrissur, India, Jacob spent much of his childhood in Bangalore before moving to Chennai, India; Lagos, Nigeria; Springfield, Illinois; and finally St. Louis. He currently lives in Albany, California. A self-proclaimed do-it-your-selfer, Jacob enjoys salvaging and tinkering with electronics in his spare time. He also likes to bike, play badminton, ping-pong and tennis.
