In the academic area I have done mathematical modeling (cultural diffusion and human visual systems) as an undergraduate. As a graduate student I worked as a consultant to the US government, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, WGBH radio and television in Boston, a large project at the Harvard School of Education on children and television, and with a number of community organizations associated with the Harvard Medical School on projects related to community health. On these above projects I was the lead statistical analyst and also assisted in designing the research protocols. I am familiar with and competent using the latest data management, statistical analysis, and visualization software in the python programming language, as well as the Jupyter Notebook offshoot that is usable by non-programmers and suitable for publication quality output. After finishing my Ph.D. I was a principal investigator, along with my colleague, at the Harvard Medical school. I was the statistical analyst and hardware/software specialist for designing our experimental and testing protocols for our research into meditation. I still am actively involved in research into meditation and related systems and the effects on practitioners and their communities. I also am involved in the applications of esoteric systems to behavioral health. In the corporate world I have worked with startups, established companies, non- profits, dot-coms, and private scientific groups. I have been a software engineer, designer, and developer either as a contractor or an employee, depending on the circumstances of the project. Details are available in my resume/CV.

Dr. Michael Forte., Ph.D

Background as a psychologist and a social scientist. Extensive experience both as a researcher in the academic community, and as a software consultant, contractor, and developer in the corporate world.

Research Expertise

Meditation, behavioral health, sociology, psychology, community health, diversity, climate change, social responsibility

About

Publications

Differences in Experience among Mindfulness Meditators

Imagination, Cognition and Personality

1987

Visual Sensitivity and Mindfulness Meditation

Perceptual and Motor Skills

1984

Differences in Visual Sensitivity among Mindfulness Meditators and Non-Meditators

Perceptual and Motor Skills

1984

Through the Looking Glass: Phenomenological Reports of Advanced Meditators at Visual Threshold

Imagination, Cognition and Personality

1985

Phenomenological Differences among Self Hypnosis, Mindfulness Meditation, and Imaging

Imagination, Cognition and Personality

1983

Education

Harvard University

Ph.D., psychology / June, 1979

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

Harvard University

M.A, Psychology / January, 1978

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

Brown University

B.A., Psychology and sociology / June, 1973

Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America

Experience

Brown University

Data modeling / September, 1974 — June, 1975

Create program to model cultural diffusion across islands in the south Pacific

Harvard School of Education

Statistical analyst and research protocol designer / October, 1975 — September, 1977

Lead statistical analysis of project research data; design research instruments; administer research instruments and surveys.

Lawrence Johnson Associates

Research project lead / September, 1975 — August, 1976

Organize focus group to evaluate content of WGBH programming for children; data analysis of research and focus group data; write report and present report to WGBH management.

U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare

Statistical Lead and project consultant / October, 1975 — March, 1976

Consult on project organization and requirements for study on hiring practices at HEW. Conduct statistical analyses on obtained data. Report to government client contacts on results.

Harvard Medical School organizations

Statistical and research consuiltant / October, 1974 — August, 1975

Consultant and statistical analyst to several community organizations on health care delivery.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Consultant and statistical lead analyst / March, 1975 — August, 1976

Research and report progress in minority hiring at CPB

Brandeis University

Computer consultant / September, 1980 — April, 1984

Boston University

Instructor, Department Of Manufacturing Engineering / September, 1984 — June, 1987

INSTRUCTOR, DEPARTMENT OF MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

Programmer/Analyst / September, 1984 — June, 1987

Designed, developed, maintained production computer graphics systems. Software acquisitions and did all ports. Graphics research; user interface research ; object-oriented graphics; Ingres, LISP graphics systems.

Harvard Medical School

Research Associate / January, 1980 — December, 1988

Designed and conducted experimental research in psychology. Conducted all statistical analyses; designed hardware and software for computer-driven experiments. Proposal development for additional research funding.

American Institutes for Research

Research and statistical analyst / August, 1978 — August, 1980

Research and statistical analyst

EEG Systems Laboratory

Senior Scientific Programmer / October, 1988 — March, 1990

Applications Software Supervisor and Project Leader. Developed and upgraded scientific software for digital signal processing, statistical and mathematical analysis, database management, graphics, realtime data acquisition. Prepared software for porting and commercial scientific software package. UNIX systems programming.

SAM Technology

Principal Software Engineer / 1988 — 1990

Prescience Corporation

Senior Software Engineer / 1991 — 1992

Ported Macintosh software from MacToolbox to UNIX, X-Windows and Motif. Developed software for Silicon Graphic machines. Responsible for system administration, system software, network, maintenance, NFS/NIS and workstation management.

Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, dot.coms, McKesson

Consultant / 1992 — 2001

Software development, UI design and programming, database design, web application design and programming, interactive data analysis applications, predictive computer system diagnostics, and a lot of other stuff that clients might have needed.

Stanford University

Academic Technology Consultant / 2003 — 2005

In consultation with faculty members, designed and completed technology-based projects to support research and teaching. Designed and executed personal, departmental, and research institute web sites and web applications. Designed logos, brochures, and posters. Prepared prepress illustration and photographic content for academic publication. Designed and implemented departmental systems and procedures to control printing and computer cluster costs. Maintained and troubleshot departmental cluster computers. Published web-based newspaper for graduate journalism program. Designed online alumni registration and contact system. Designed 3D system to simulate multi- ethnic faces for use in accent and prejudice study. Provided general software and hardware purchase advice to department and faculty members. Provided general software and hardware use assistance to faculty, students, and staff.

VMware, Inc.

Architect / Developer / Program Manager / January, 2007 — October, 2010

Designed and programmed TopTrack, the system of record for logistical tracking of all high value server, desktop, laptop, storage array, and network equipment for the company, worldwide.

Independent projects

Principal Investigator / March, 2012 — Present

Research in psychological and social changes and consequences of participation in various forms of meditation and esoteric practices, including yoga, Qi Qong, Tai Chi and martial arts, shamanism, Buddhism, other practices. Also the behavioral medicine specific practices and health consequences and benefits. Coordinate and compare findings with other researchers and projects.

Open source projects

Programmer / 2019 — Present

Test, update, and revise Python code and Jupyter notebooks to conform to current distributions of Python and/ or related packages. Focus on data analysis and visualization.

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