John comes to ESnet’s Network Engineering team from the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC), operator of the State of California Research and Education Network (CALREN).  At CENIC, John was involved in a number of projects, including the Pacific Wave, the Pacific Research Platform, and participation in Global Network Advancement Group (GNA-G) teams exploring AutoGOLE/NSI and Data Intensive Science, as well as other collaborative efforts.  

Prior to CENIC, John worked as a network engineer for UC, as well as a systems engineer during a brief stint with Cisco.  Among his interests are interconnection protocols, network performance, and data movement.

What brought you to ESnet? 

Through my activities with CENIC and Pacific Wave, I had the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues at ESnet on a variety of projects. The ESnet folks with whom I have worked consistently impressed me with their depth of expertise, willingness to share their knowledge, and their commitment to advancing the interests of researchers and multidisciplinary, data-intensive initiatives involving the national labs and institutions across the broader R&E community.  I wanted to join and contribute as part of that team.      

What is the most exciting thing going on in your field right now?

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a more general realization and sense of urgency of the need to close the digital divide. I am excited about (further) democratizing access to technology — to under-served communities, to a more diverse set of potential researchers and contributors.  As much as the advances in basic research with HEP (high energy physics), Astro-Physics, Genomics, Earth Sciences, and other domains, I am excited about advancing pervasive access to technology. 

What book would you recommend?

Burch, David. Celestial Navigation, A Complete Home Study Course, Second Edition. Seattle, Starpath Publications, 2019. 

I began sailing as a kid with our family’s 13’ SunFish on a lake near our home in NJ.  This began what has become a life-long passion for sailing and the realization of a childhood dream of someday owning and living on a sailboat.   Though my boat is equipped with a state-of-the-art  navigation system, among my current dreams is to become conversant with celestial navigation and to complete ocean passages relying exclusively on this centuries-old  technology.