I am a Scientist working at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Information Sciences Division. I earned my PhD in Fall 2021 under the direction of Dr. Michael Nelson and Dr. Michele Weigle as a member of the Web Science and Digital Libraries Research Group at Old Dominion University. At the same time I worked as a Graduate Research Assistant for Dr. Martin Klein as a member of the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Research Library Prototyping Team. Before my current position, I was an ISTI Postdoctoral Fellow working for Dr. Diane Oyen.
Before my research life, I was a software engineer for 18 years with Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Atlantic, now Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic. During that time I worked on a variety of software solutions for conducting inventory and maintenance aboard ships and aircraft. This taught me that most software systems are messy and require a lot of compromises for fielding. I worked with users, program managers, and everything in between. Depending on the project, I may have engaged in requirements analysis, developed software, designed systems, or conducted security audits. Even though it was interesting to solve the unique problems posed by systems with inconsistent or poor connectivity, I decided in 2010 to go back to school and look for new challenges. I have been making the transition from software engineer to researcher ever since.
This web site collects all of my work in one place. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me through any of the social media channels listed on the bottom of the page.
Academic Lineage
PhDs have the privilege of bestowing the title of Doctor upon those who have proven themselves worth of the scholarly title. Thus, there is a family tree for each Doctorate. Mine is below.
| Scholar | Alma Mater | Discipline | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| J. J. Von Littrow | Charles University | Astronomy | 1802 |
| Nikolai Dmitrievich Brashman | University of Vienna | Mathematics | 1834 |
| Pafnuty Lvovich Chebyshev | Moscow University | Mathematics | 1849 |
| Andrei Andreevich Markov | University of St. Petersburg | Mathematics | 1884 |
| Jacob D. Tamarkin | University of St. Petersburg | Mathematics | 1917 |
| Nelson Dunford | Brown University | Mathematics | 1936 |
| Jacob T. Schwartz | Yale University | Mathematics | 1952 |
| Kurt Maly | New York University | Computer Science | 1973 |
| Michael L. Nelson | Old Dominion University | Computer Science | 2000 |
| Shawn M. Jones | Old Dominion University | Computer Science | 2021 |
Personal
I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with Valentina Neblitt-Jones and my two cats, Malala (gray) and Marjon (black). Valentina is a librarian by day and has many interests outside of work. I routinely walk Malala and Marjon when possible. Malala is the more playful cat, often curious about what I’m doing, even if I’m just writing on a whiteboard. Marjon is the stronger cat, often curious about food, and is the cleaner and more etiquette-focused cat of the two.
I am avid fan of fiction, especially television. I do believe in the value of fiction for our everday lives. The right fiction can give us hope. Sometimes it is just an escape. Other times it forces us to evaluate the world around us. I think it is important to engage with fiction for these reasons. Some of my belief system is built from the aspirational ideas of the American fiction of the 1960s through the 1980s: there is hope for the future, money is not everything, we can find solutions if we work together, science is the path toward problem solving, individual people’s rights matter, stand up for your beliefs, and so on.
This Web Site
This web site is built with Jekyll and based on the $35 Olania theme by Artem Sheludko. While I am familiar with web technologies, I thank Artem for his hard work on this theme because it freed me to focus on content creation. If it does not render correctly for you or you have suggestions or questions, please contact me.
Additionally, this site does not use Google Analytics because I am trying very hard to respect the visitor’s privacy. This site exists for you to learn about me, not me about you. If you find that this site places cookies on your machine, tell me immediately and I will work to correct that or post a privacy notice that complies with GDPR and CCPA. At the moment, I believe I am compliant and honoring your privacy needs.