Michael Zyskowski is the Lead Program Manager in the Microsoft Research Connections Engineering team, productizing state-of-the-art research technologies for broad consumption by both academic and commercial R&D.
He is currently responsible for building ChronoZoom, a visualization tool for exploring Big Data multimedia mashup timelines - using zoom as the mechanism for travelling through time.
Previous projects include an open source Bioinformatics Software Library for genomics research: .NET Bio, and a Mobile+Cloud Software Development Kit (SDK) for students and citizen scientists: Project Hawaii.
In his former life he was into real-time simulation of high performance vehicles in both consumer and enterprise markets (Flight Simulator and Microsoft ESP) - foucused on development of the physics engine, APIs and eventually turning to the dark side of Program Management to support the development ecosystem.
Prior to Microsoft he spent time at Boeing desiging aircraft and then evaluating aircraft accidents by combining reverse-kinematic analysis with 3d vizualization.
He holds a BS and MS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas, where he was a NASA research scholar focusing on design and certification of experimental composite aircraft.
When not trying to make the world a better place, Mike enjoys building and flying airplanes, connecting with the outdoors, and spending time with his family...but not necessarily in that order.:)