David O. Nahmias
dnahmias@umd.edu
I am currently pursing my PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland-College while conducting my research in the Human-Device Interaction lab at the Food and Drug Administration.
My research interests are in machine learning for signal and image processing with biomedical applications, particularly for upper limb prosthetics. My current projects involve analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) through statistical signal processing.
I am co-advised by Dr. Eugene Civillico and Dr. Kimberly Kontson at the FDA and Professor Jonathan Simon from the ECE department at UMD.
You can find my resume here;
or a more comprehensive CV here.
When I am not working I am:
- Playing volleyball.
- DJ-ing.
- Coding up fun projects.
- Learning about the brain!
Work.
ORISE (Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education) Fellow
Experience:
- Medical Devices
- Neuroscience and Electrophysiology
- Bio-Signal Processing and Recognition
Overview:
ORISE Fellow in the Human-Device Interaction (HDI) lab in the Division of Biomedical Physics (DBP) under the Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories (OSEL) within the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
My research aimes to advance regulatory science through better understanding and analysis of electrophysiology and other biomarkers as well as through the study of human interaction with existing and emerging medical device technologies.
Year: September 2016 - Present
Graduate Assistant
Experience:
- Hardware specialist
- Technology support specialist
- System administrator
Overview:
Manage and support the School of Public Health's technology infrastructure.
Support and troubleshoot computer hardware, software, servers, networking, virtualization, mobile/tablet computing, cloud resources, database, and enterprise systems.
Year: September 2015 - August 2016
Server Systems Engineer
Experience:
- Caché System Manager Certified
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Trained
- UNIX administrator
- Server performance analysis
- M (programming language)
- C#/.NET
Overview:
Manage Epic’s database system, via InterSystem’s Caché database, both through development and implementation of database server systems for new Epic customers and support of existing implementations of Epic software at various health organizations.
Unix database administrator and Caché system manager.
Year: August 2014 - August 2015
SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow)
Experience:
- Research
- LabView
- SmartMotor programming
- Engineering design and machining
- Technical writing
Overview:
Done in the Intelligent Systems Division of the Engineering Lab (E.L.) at NIST. Managed a full independent project on AGV (Autonomously Guided Vehicle) obstacle detection and avoidance.
Designed and constructed computer controlled mechanical system to move obstacles, such as test pieces or mannequins, with controllable displacement and velocity. Further developed AGV’s sensing ability and testing procedure for industry standards.
Details regarding the project cannot be posted outside of NIST as per their regulations.
Year: May 2013 - August 2013
SEED (Summer Educational E-project Developer)
Experience:
- HTML/CSS, jQuery
- JavaScript
- Google Analytics
- Python
- WeBWorK via Perl
Overview:
Software engineering position that demanded learning new languages and software packages as each project was developed in a collaborative environment.
Developed websites for psychology experiments using JavaScript and libraries such as jQuery and Raphaël along with Google analytics for analysis. [See Website].
Explored and documented WeBWorK’s capabilities as an online tool for math courses. Created assignments and solutions that are now the sole WeBWorK assignments for introductory math courses at Swarthmore.
Year: May 2012 - August 2012
T.A. (Teaching Assistant)
Courses:
- E11: Electric Circuit Analysis (2 semesters)
- E12: Linear Physical Systems Analysis
- E14: Experimentation Design for Engineers (2 semesters)
- E58: Control Theory and Design
Overview:
Lead problem sessions for students to assist with weekly homeworks, tutored students one-on-one as needed, guide review sessions for exams and grade homework assignments.
Year: January 2012 - June 2014
Projects.
Engineering Senior Thesis
Overview:
For my senior thesis in engineering I designed and constructed a system to acquire and analyze electromyography (EMG) data and then using artificial neural networks recognize various hand gestures to control a mouse and keyboard in real-time. The system had over 99% accuracy for four hand gestures. [Swarthmore Publication]
Presented at Swarthmore's Agora Talks May 2014 as one of seven senior projects across all disciplines.
Resources:
Year: 2014
Mathematics Senior Paper
Overview:
My mathematics paper for my senior conference delved into the derivation and applications of the Haar and Daubechies-4 wavelets specifically in signal processing.
Resources:
Year: 2014
Bilingualism Psychology Research
Overview:
This research, which spawned from an experiment I designed for a class, has shown that bilinguals represent syntactic structures over multiple languages in their mind as one intertwined syntactic structure rather than separate ones.
Resources:
- Preliminary Paper
- 2013 Association for Psychological Science (APS) Poster
- 2012 CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing Poster
- 2012 CUNY Conference abstract
Year: 2011-2014
Control Theory Final Project
Overview:
Using an infrared sensor the beam balances the ball at two different positions that alternate via a square wave input though a Proportional Derivative (PD) controller implemented on a Arduino board.
Resources:
Year: 2013
Computer Vision Final Project
Overview:
This project implemented a version of panorama image stitching where the program searches through a folder of images (for example, a folder of summer vacation photos), and determines if there are appropriate matches for some of the images. If there exist panoramas in the folder, the program outputs all possible panoramas that can be validly stitched together.
Resources:
- Report
- Source Code Coming Soon!
Year: 2013
Humanoid Robotics Projects
Overview:
Projects delved into path planning, kinematics, stability and implementation of various algorithms for humanoid robots. In particular the Darwin-OP and the HUBO were modeled and used. Projects built up from determinig simple statically stable poses to implementing Zero Moment Point (ZMP) walking while avoiding obsticle. These projects were documented via a blog, with videos, at DJrobotic [so named for the obvious pun and first two letters of the names of myself and Jackie Kay, now at OSRF!]
Resources:
- Blog, with videos, detailing projects!
- Source Code Coming Soon!
Year: 2013
Numerical Methods Final Project
Overview:
This project given a net-list uses a Modified Nodal Analysis (MNA) algorithm to find the solution to circuits that incorporate dependent and independent, both AC and DC, sources; resistors; inductors; capacitors; transformers; and idealized versions of the operational amplifier (op amp). Additionally, we implanted solution techniques for the simple circuits and single sinusoidal sources and find symbolic solutions for all other cases.
Resources:
- Report
- Source Code Coming Soon!
Year: 2012
Swarthmore Engineering April Fools 2014
Overview:
Continuing with tradition at Swarthmore Engineering, I led the prank to 'extend' the Crum Creak meander, a then new art peice on campus, through the dinning hall.
Resources:
Year: 2014
Engineering Senior Thesis
Mathematics Senior Paper
Bilingualism Psychology Research
Control Theory Final Project
Computer Vision Final Project
Humanoid Robotics Projects
Numerical Methods Final Project
Swarthmore Engineering April Fools 2014
Personal.
Research Interests:
Signal & Image Processing with biomedical applications.
- Machine learning for bio-signal and image processing for upper limb prosthetics.
- Wavelet applications in signals and images for denoising and feature extraction.
- Neuroscience and electrophysiology.
References:
Provided upon request.Education:
University of Maryland-College Park
- PhD candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Recipient of an ORISE Fellowship for research at FDA beginning fall 2016.
Recipient of a Joshua Lippincott Fellowship in 2015.
Coursework: Statistical Pattern Recognition; Image Understanding; Selected Topics in Analysis: Wavelets, Time-Frequency Analysis, and Frames; Advanced Digital Signal Processing; Random Processes in Communication and Control; Information Theory; Optimal Control; Estimation and Detection Theory; Embedded Systems; Intellectual Property Seminar; Neural Basis of Human Movement.
Years: September 2015-Present
Swarthmore College
- B.S. Engineering (Concentrations in Electrical Engineering and Robotics)
- B.A. Mathematics (Concentration in Statistics)
Recipient of The Albert Vollmecke Engineering Award for 2014.
Nominated and elected as an associate member of Sigma Xi, Scientific Research Honors Society.
Years: September 2010-June 2014
Watkins Mill High School
- Maryland State High School Diploma
- International Baccalaureate Diploma
Certificate of Merit from State of Maryland
College Board AP Scholar
Years: September 2008-June 2010
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