Michael Francis Booth

I live in Billerica, Massachusetts with my wonderful wife Elsa Elliott.

I'm a Web developer. I was once a laser physicist, a biophysicist, and a semiconductor manufacturing engineer -- but not all at the same time.

I have a parrot named Ptolemy. (He thinks the world revolves around him.)

I write a blog, and I play the banjo.

In my ideal world, I would have a milling machine, a wood shop, an electronics lab, a recording studio, a vegetable garden, a kayak, a wood-fired pizza oven, a garage with a lift, a homemade fuel-efficient sports car, a piano, and a pool table — and I would know how to use them all. I'm working on it.

mike@michaelfbooth.com

Mechanical Robot Fish

Development of database-backed Web applications using:

Drupal, the open-source social software system, running on Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP
Ruby on Rails
Perl (with Linux, Apache, and Oracle)
In earlier days, the Open Architecture Community System (Oracle, AOLServer, Tcl)

Proficient: Ruby, PHP, Javascript and jQuery, CSS, HTML/XHTML, SQL, Perl, Git/Subversion/CVS, Emacs Lisp, Linux and Mac OS X system administration.

Formerly Proficient (but haven't used in ~5 years): Tcl, Oracle PL/SQL.

Novice: Java, C, LabView, VBScript.

Principal Developer, Literate Devices, Inc, Billerica, MA
December 2007 – present

Design, development, and deployment of web sites, primarily in Drupal.
Custom Drupal module development.
Drupal theming, including CSS and Javascript.

Co-developer of the Event Calendar functionality for the Seven Days Vermont newspaper.

Research Scientist, Science Research Laboratory, Inc., Somerville, MA
March 2006 – October 2007

Conceived, designed, and executed optical and electrical experiments on high-power semiconductor lasers in order to improve their operating lifetime.
Wrote software in Ruby, Java, LabVIEW, and VBScript for acquisition and analysis of laser data.
Designed cooling and monitoring subsystems for a laser diode testing facility; directed machinists and technicians during assembly and operation of the facility.
Co-authored funding proposals and reports.

Research Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
March 2003 – March 2006

Studied tumor blood vessels and drug diffusion using novel optical techniques.
Assembled, configured, and maintained two-photon microscopy systems.
Wrote software in Java, LabVIEW, and C for image acquisition and analysis.
Trained and assisted microscope users.
Co-authored, reviewed, and edited journal articles and NIH grants.

Product Engineer, Agilent Technologies, Semiconductor Products Group, Newark, CA
Dec 2000 – March 2003

Invented, designed, implemented, and maintained a Web-accessible software system (built with Oracle, Linux and Perl) for the capture, storage, retrieval, and display of RF test data and the automated evaluation and rework of semiconductor wafers; used this system to support 20–30 engineers at fabs in the U.S. and Malaysia. This software remains in production at Agilent (now Avago Technologies) and has processed more than 500 million parts to date.
Diagnosed processing problems to improve yields during the manufacturing ramp of the Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (FBAR).

Software Developer, ArsDigita Corporation, Cambridge, MA
April 2000 – November 2000

Developed Oracle-backed Web sites for client companies, using the Open Architecture Community System.
Taught Web programming to students.
Co-authored a chapter in a software textbook; wrote documentation.

Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Electrical Engineering, Cornell University
October 1995 – March 2000

Conducted extensive, hands-on semiconductor process development at the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility.
Assembled and programmed computer-integrated test systems for measuring and analyzing electrical, optical, and RF-noise characteristics of lasers.
Developed analytical models of ring laser asymmetry and bistability.

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, May 2000
Thesis: Bistability and Unidirectionality in Triangular Ring Diode Lasers
Adviser: Dr. Joseph Ballantyne
Semiconductor Research Corporation Graduate Fellowship
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

Bachelor of Science in Physics, summa cum laude
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

C. Ji, M. F. Booth, A. Schremer, and J. M. Ballantyne, “Characterizing relative intensity noise in InGaAsP-InP triangular ring lasers”, IEEE J. Quantum Electronics 41: 925–931 (2005).
F. Winkler, S. V. Kozin, R. T. Tong, S-S Chae, M. F. Booth, I. Garkavstev, L. Xu, D. J. Hicklin, D. Fukumura, E. di Tomaso, L. L. Munn, and R. K. Jain, “Kinetics of vascular normalization by VEGFR2 blockade governs brain tumor response to radiation: Role of oxygenation, angiopoietin-1, and matrix metalloproteinases” Cancer Cell 6: 553–63 (2004).
D. G. Duda, D. Fukumura, L. L. Munn, M. F. Booth, E. B. Brown, P. Huang, B. Seed, and R. K. Jain, “Differential transplantability of tumor-associated stromal cells”, Cancer Res. 64: 5920–4 (2004).
R. K. Jain and M. F. Booth, Commentary: “What brings pericytes to tumor vessels?”, J. Clin Invest. 112: 1134–6 (2003).
M. F. Booth, A. Schremer, and J. M. Ballantyne, “Spatial Beam Switching and Bistability in a Diode Ring Laser”, Appl. Phys. Lett 76: 1095–7 (2000).
D. G. Busch, S. Gao, R. A. Pelak, M. F. Booth, and W. Ho, “Femtosecond desorption dynamics probed by time-resolved velocity measurements”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 75: 673–6 (1995).
R. G. Beck, M. F. Booth, D. E. Farrell, J. P. Rice, and D. M. Ginsberg, “Torque magnetometry: a new probe of dimensionality in high-Tc superconductors”, Phil. Mag. B 65: 1373–9 (1992).
D. E. Farrell, R. G. Beck, M. F. Booth, C. J. Allen, E. D. Bukowski, and D. M. Ginsberg, “Superconducting effective mass anisotropy in Tl2Ba2CaCu2Ox”, Phys. Rev. B 42: 6758–6761 (1990).

Michael Francis Booth

Software Skills

Employment

Education

Publications