My name is Brendan Kristiansen, I live and work in Sheridan, Wyoming, and I love computer security, networks, data collection, embedded systems, and making maps. I currently work at AgTerra Technologies, where I am the primary party responsible for research and development on the company's new line of cellular-connected data loggers, the ActionMapper. While leading the ActionMapper's initial development, I was in charge of chip selection, firmware development, PCB design, and mechanical design. I continue to work on replacing obsolete components as necessary and ideating on future product improvements.
Aside from research and development, I also contribute to the codebase for our online mapping applications. My most notable work is writing a map Tile server from scratch and building a tool for users to convert their own photographs into basemaps for use in our mobile app, MapItFast.
I also wrote the application that processes ActionMapper data that is uploaded to our servers, the Android code to communicate with an ActionMapper via Bluetooth, and several small improvements to the websites that visualize geospatial data. The primary technologies I use at AgTerra are Android (Kotlin + Java), .NET (mostly MVC), Vue.JS, KiCAD, QGIS, and Autodesk Fusion.
I previously worked for NWB Sensors in Bozeman, Montana. My primary work at NWB was on a data collection device that was connected to an agricultural field mapping system. The devices I worked with collected image data from camera systems mounted on combines. Using AI, the data was analyzed to automatically detect and map anomalies in fields, such as weeds and animal dens. I wrote the code that facilitates all of the data collection and processing for this project, and was the primary maintainer of a QGIS fork geared towards the presentation of data from this project.
I also spent considerable time on NWB's snowpack monitoring system , where I wrote the initial code to add L2 GPS support to NWB's prototype solver in Matlab. I also am the original author of most of the drivers to allow the firmware running in the snow project's embedded system to communicate with connected hardware.
The technologies I used most at NWB included Linux, Python, OpenCV and Tensorflow.
Education
Montana State University - Bozeman, MT
B.S. in Computer Science. Graduated May 2020.Coursework:
- CSCI 494 - Seminar: Computational Topology and Geometry
- CSCI 476 - Computer Security (C, Python, PHP, SQL)
- CSCI 466 - Networks (Python, Wireshark)
- CSCI 460 - Operating Systems (C)
- CSCI 451 - Computational Biology (Python)
- CSCI 442 - Computer Vision (Java, Python, OpenCV)
- CSCI 441 - Computer Graphics (C++, OpenGL)
- CSCI 440 - Database Systems (SQL)
- CSCI 361 - Computer Architecture (MIPS Assembly)
- CSCI 351 - Systems Administration
- CSCI 338 - Computer Science Theory
- CSCI 305 - Concepts of Programming Languages (Go, Kotlin, Dart)
- ESOF 322 - Software Engineering (Java)
- EGEN 310 - Multidisciplinary Engineering Design (Python)
- M 273 - Multivariable Calculus
- M 221 - Intro to Linear Algebra
Academic Research
Fortran-Silo
Fortran-Silo is a library designed to extend the Fortran functionality of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Silo library. Silo is a library that streamlines reading and writing geometric mesh data in C using HDF5, but has the ability to write meshes out from Fortran. Currently, there is no option to read Silo files in a Fortran program. My library contains a set of functions to accompany Silo's native functionality with a similar interface that will allow the user the ability to read a select set of Silo data types from silo files.
Project Repository
NeuroCAVE
The NeuroCAVE Collaborative is a team of artists, music technologists, and computer scientists whose goal is to create an interactive environment where a participant's brain activity is measured and used to change the environment around them. My role in the project was to automate the the process of pairing a set of computers each to a bluetooth headset using Google Firebase to host the configuration. In 2017, the Cave spent 4 months on display at the Holter Museum of Art in Helena, MT. and is currently on display in MSU's Norm Asbjornson Hall.
Project Website
Project Repository
MSU Exponent Article
MSU Storytelling with Alice
The storytelling team is developing and researching storytelling as a culturally responsive way to engage American Indian and rural Montana middle school students in learning computer science and computing skills. Instead of creating a new curriculum (and new standards for teachers to meet), the project will infuse computer science across the curriculum, which will help students understand that computing skills are relevant across disciplines and are important for a wide variety of professions in the work-force. These lessons will use Alice, an object-based educational programming environment that has already proven to be successful in engaging and retaining diverse and under-served groups in computer science.
Project Website
MSU News Article
Other Things I Do
Music
When I am not working on a side project, I am usually playing music. During the school year, I enjoy playing saxophone in the Sheridan College Symphony Band with my wife, who plays flute. During the summer, we play in a different community band that plays three free outdoor concerts every year in Sheridan's Kendrick Park. I also play bass guitar in a classic rock cover band that plays in various bars and street festivals across our corner of Wyoming and nearby parts of Montana. I also spend many weekends and evenings with friends jamming on any instruments we can find.
Photography
For most of my college career, I worked at the Exponent, Montana State University's student newspaper. I started working as a staff photographer, then moved up to art director and eventually managing editor. I have had the honor of photographing sporting events, Astronaut Scott Kelly, Norah Jones former Attourney General Jeff Sessions, former Illinois governor Bruce Rauner and even former President Donald Trump.