Libbey White grew up enjoying the natural splendor of Montana, which instilled in her an instinctive interest in conservation. Libbey majored in biology, but was a laundromat attendant, book store clerk, ranch cook, and lab assistant, among other things, before getting close to working with data and code. She got her start in the software field thanks to willing tutors at the Center for Computational Biology at Montana State University. Since then she has held a variety of software development roles, including exhibit software developer at Oregon Museum of Science & Industry and research software developer at Knight Cancer Institute, where she created a genomic data visualization application. She now has over 15 years of software development experience, much of it related to science and data visualization.
Brianna Fair focuses on project architecture, technical project management, behavioral analytics, and full-stack software engineering, with a particular interest in UX for its direct link to user behavior and interaction. Brianna has worked in tech since the beginning of her career, leading developing and growing a number of digital departments and software teams throughout the West Coast. Much of her work has been focused on integrating a behavioral analytics layer into software to allow for direct feedback to the user experience, in order to better personalize digital interactions. Most recently, she co-founded a decentralized hydroponic farming initiative, based out of Corvallis, Oregon.
Jesudas (Jess) Joseph joined CBI in August 2021 as a software engineer and will be responsible for IT administration. He was born in Corvallis, Oregon, but moved to Bangalore, India, at the age of one. After living in India for 16 years, Jess and his family moved back to Corvallis. Jess graduated from Oregon State University in June 2021 with a major in computer science. He enjoys spending his time outside hiking, taking photos, and running sound and other tech at his church.
Torrence joined CBI in August 2021. She enjoys working in a variety of languages and technologies and considers herself a polyglot programmer. Torrence recently returned to higher education and is currently a student in the Natural Resources program at Oregon State University specializing in Landscape Analysis.
When not studying or researching where to travel in her van, Torrence spends most of her spare time hiking and camping in the outdoors. She also enjoys board games and reading sci-fi. She plans to eventually hike a section of the Blue Mountains Trail. She lives in Portland, OR with her partner and their cat.
Taylor is an Eastern Oregon native and has been interested in mathematics and computers since a young age. While at college, he studied computational geometry, topology, probability and computer graphics, as well as mathematical fundamentals of cryptography. He has since blended those interests by integrating computer graphics and the web with data visualization and environmental science, developing desktop- and web-based software to assist scientists in leveraging their data.
Bill is proud to have grown up in Oak Park, IL but has lived on the West Coast for most of his adult life. Bill studied philosophy at Occidental College and received his Masters in Mathematics Education from DePaul University. After teaching math at the high school and community college level in his twenties, Bill decided to learn how to program and defend wildlife with computers. He loves working with geospatial data because of its connection to mathematics and the beautiful visual displays that can be created. When Bill is not at CBI, he is usually watching David Attenborough documentaries, snowboarding, playing guitar, or expanding his collection of tropical house plants.
Daniel Harvey joined CBI in November 2013. He specializes in application and database design and development, with experience spanning Microsoft and Unix-based platforms and a broad range of client- and server-side technologies. Since earning a Master’s Degree in Computer Science in 2006 with an emphasis in GIS, he has worked in many capacities including: software architecture, design, development, QA, and support. But as part of the CBI team he found what he sought since graduation: a career in employing technology to bring humanity into harmony with the ecosystems that together are the pulse of this planet.
Daniel grew up on the East Coast near a wildlife preserve. He spent much of his childhood exploring and communing with nature. Although he has worked in many fields including language, hydraulics and piano tuning, Daniel retains a passion for using science to understand complex and beautiful systems as they occur naturally without losing view of the ways in which they challenge our systems of thought. He has studied Music Theory, Change as described by the I-Ching, and pursues an ever deepening knowledge of Geology and Climatology.
Daniel currently lives in Corvallis, Oregon with his wife Saralyn and three children. He avidly studies ancient cultural literature including Celtic, East Asian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern and American Indian. He also enjoys music theory, piano tuning, running, and has recently taken on the task of learning Irish.
Bill Pfeil is passionately committed to the defense of our natural environments and the preservation of all species. He has a strong interest in data visualization tools and techniques for solving scientific problems and communicating results. Bill has more than 20 years experience developing desktop, mobile, and enterprise applications. He has created solutions for many types of industries including environmental, scientific and optical, radio, law enforcement, banking, and logistics and transportation. Bill has worked with many different languages and technologies including c, c++, .net, objective-c, java, javascript, ruby, rails, unity, android studio and more.
Nik grew up in rural Eastern Washington, and took an early interest in computers and programming. He followed this passion throughout childhood and into college, attending The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA and studying software design and media. While at Evergreen, Nik found a job working on software to manage and visualize environmental data. This introduced him to the challenges of collecting, organizing, and communicating scientific data, and the roles that software and technology can play in addressing these needs.
Nik moved to Corvallis and joined the Conservation Biology Institute in June of 2010. He works as a software engineer on the Data Basin team and enjoys tackling the many challenges addressed by the project. He also tends to CBI’s growing technology needs. Outside of work, Nik pursues a variety of other software projects and enjoys the many nearby mountains, cycling, and tap dancing.
Tara joined Conservation Biology Institute in March of 2010 as a Software Engineer. She brings over 15 years of experience in the software industry with a focus on web applications. Tara has a passion for building intuitive, helpful web applications that run smoothly. She’s currently working on the Data Basin system…doing what she can to make conservation data more available, more understandable, and more manageable for more people.