I currently earn a living as a developer and analyst of financial services software for enterprise-level clients - specifically custom solutions for backend banking systems, bank databases and brokerage-bank interfaces. In my spare time I occasionally enjoy developing utilities for my own personal use and messing around with web design and programming - currently into improving my Javascript/AJAX skills. I also have a fair amount of experience programming mathematical models as well as working with statistical analysis software, the former of which I was involved with in college and the latter of which I performed professionally as a consultant for a county in southern New Jersey. Most extant examples of my work are frivolities and most non-trivial examples are the property of my employer or have been lost to the sands of time; here, however, are some recent projects that I found fun or interesting, or both:

The Library

I am also hoping to spend some time developing some small utilities for use in the sciences, feel free to get in touch (see the Contact section to the left) or check out my blog if you want to know more or have a project you would like to collaborate on.

My degree is in mathematics and it is a field in which I am still very much interested and involved. While most of my time is spent learning, I have managed to perform some research, albeit mostly expository. A great deal of this work was performed under the guidance and tutelage of Drs. Tom Osler and Abdul Hassen of Rowan University, to whom I owe an incredible amount of gratitude. My current interests lie largely in Algebraic Number Theory, a field that I am still diligently learning; the works of Leonhard Euler, whose papers I find endlessly fascinating; and in filling in the gaps for when I decide to take the Math subject GRE.

Here are some links to my work:

A translation of Euler's E46 with a synopsis (at the Euler Archive)

Constructing a line segment whose length is equal to the measure of a given angle. iJMEST, 38(2007), pp. 529-230.

A modern look at a neglected summation formula by Euler. The Mathematical Gazette, 93(2009), pp. 237-243.

I may also post my mathematical thoughts and finds on my blog, so check it out.

Creative writing has long been a hobby of mine and although until recently I have treated it as a solipsistic endeavor, I hope at some point to be able to add it to my professional résumé. I typically write short stories when I am feeling so inspired but lately I have been working on attempting my first novel, which I am learning is no mean feat. I hope to post some examples here soon, and maybe establish some sort of online writing journal in order to enforce upon myself some level of discipline - so check back soon. Until then, feel free to check out my blog.

My minor in college was in philosophy, and it would have been a second major, but such a degree was not offered at Rowan until my tenure was coming to a close. My main interests during college were epistemology, the philosophy of science, and symbolic logic; however since that time I have become deeply interested in the philosophy of information and its connections to postmodern philosophy (Lyotard, Baudrillard, McLuhan, etc.). I have recently had a paper accepted at the "McLuhan's Philosophy of Media Centennial Conference", which I may post here after the conference. For more regular updates on my thoughts and ideas feel free to check out my blog.

At this point - if you have read through the links above - you must be wondering just who this awful, pretentious bastard thinks he is and why on earth does he feel the compulsion to force links to his crappy blog upon me? Well, while my wife could probably tell you some stories, the truth is that I think I'm a fairly normal, down-to-earth kind of guy in my personal life. No, seriously - I mean, I designed this page for self-promotion so what did you expect? I just happen to be addicted to learning and become painfully bored if I am not doing something that I thought was probably impossible before I started doing it. And so to round out your skewed impression of me, here are a few other hobbies of mine that sound pompous when written down in list form but seem completely banal when engaged in as part of one's day-to-day existence: foreign language study (Latin and French mostly right now, but I remember a lot of my Spanish and am somewhat adept in Italian and Ancient Greek), running (only 5Ks and 10Ks competitively so far but I want to get into marathon+ distances), golf (I am about an 8-10 handicap), trivia, nutritional science and gastronomy, gardening, art, music, blah, blah, blah.

If after reading anything posted here you still want to get in touch with me, you can feel free to email me at jacobw56@gmail.com or look me up on facebook or twitter. You can also check out my blog for more up to date information about my thoughts and possible whereabouts.