Curriculum Vitae

Jessie Dedecker

Personal Information

Name: DEDECKER Jessie
Date of Birth: 06 November 1979, Oostende, Belgium
Nationality: Belgian
Marital Status: Not Married
Diploma: PhD degree in Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), 2006, Greatest Distinction (magna cum laude)
Driver's License: class B
Address: Jean Paquotstraat 36 box 8
1050 Brussels
Belgium
E-mail: jessie at dedecker dot org

Education and Training

2002-2006: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels. Obtained a PhD in Computer Science at the Programming Technology Laboratory

My research was entirely funded by the Fund for Scientific Research, Flanders (FWO) which is Belgium's flemish research foundation. It is the most prestigious research funding organisation of the country, funding only first-rate researchers to perform fundamental research in any scientific discipline.

Ph.D. Dissertation:
Ambient-Oriented Programming - A Paradigm for Programming Mobile Networks
Promotors: Prof. Dr. Theo D'Hondt and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang De Meuter
Grade: Greatest Distinction (magna cum laude)
2001-2002: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels. Obtained the degree of European Master in Object-, Component-, and Aspect-Oriented Software Engineering with greatest distinction (magna cum laude)

Dissertation (graduation thesis):
Dynamic Aspect Composition using Logic Meta Programming
Promotor: Prof. Dr. Theo D'Hondt and Prof. Dr. Maximo Prieto
Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium and Universidad National de La Plata, Argentina

This is an internationally organized master programme by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) and Ecole des Mines Nantes (France) where subjects are taught by internationally recognized experts. The master consisted of 6 months intensive training in Nantes, France followed by a thesis period in a Latin-American country. I did my masters thesis in La Plata, Argentina.
1997-2001: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels. Obtained the degree of Licentiaat in de Informatica with greatest distincation (magna cum laude)

Dissertation (graduation thesis):
A Finite State Machine Approach to Real-Time Scheduler Generation
Promotor: Prof. Dr. Theo D'Hondt
Programming Technology Lab, VUB
1991-1997: High School diploma / diploma Algemeen Secundair Onderwijs, Koninkijk Atheneum Centrum, Oostende

Scientific and Industrial Experience

2006-Present: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Postdoctoral researcher at the Programming Technology Laboratory.

My work still consists of research and teaching but now also includes other responsibilities:
  • Supervision and coaching of 6 Ph.D. students who are preparing their doctoral dissertations.
  • Managing team development efforts of our research prototype. From a software engineering perspective this means that the development of our research artifact has shifted from a one-man project to a collaborative effort with a team of six people.
  • Define research directions for the lab (e.g. discover emerging trends and define research topics for both academic and industrial projects).
2002-2006: Research assistant at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.

I divided my time between research and teaching:
  • Technical writing of scientific articles, peer-reviewing articles for conferences.
  • Architecture and implementation of a programming language for embedded networked devices written in Java/J2ME.
  • Experimenting with and programming state-of-the-art software systems.
  • Teaching includes supervising master's theses of graduating computer science studens and organizing the exercise sessions of various master-level Computer Science courses.
1997-2002: Self-employed.

I provided software solutions to various small to medium sized companies. The most important project was the creation of a web service for a travel operator to sell travel packages to travel agencies.

Selected scientific publications

Selected presentations

Programme committee member

Projects and Funding

I am co-author of the following research project proposals:

Personal Skills and Competences

Languages

Dutch: Mother Tongue
English: Excellent speaking, writing and reading
French: Intermediate knowledge
Spanish: Basic knowledge

Hobbies

I like sports. I regularly play badminton and whenever I get a chance I go backpacking with friends. Besides sports I also like photography and journalism. I am an editor of BrusselBlogt, which is a cityblog about the Brussels region.

Job interests

I like to work on challenging problems that require a healthy amount of technical expertise. I enjoy working in small teams and realize that good managerial skills are a key to solving any problem of scale. My research background enables me to have an open mind towards alternative state-of-the-art technologies. Nevertheless, I realize that technology is a means to an end and I am always dedicated towards meeting deadlines. I have technical expertise in distributed systems (ranging from resource-scarce sensor networks over mobile phone applications up to large-scale internet service oriented architectures) and the design and implementation of dynamic programming languages.

Technical Skills and Competences

Software Engineering

I have experience in working in a software development team on small to medium-scale projects. In the context of my PhD research, I developed my own programming language. This development project has grown from a one-man project to a team of 6 people. In order to accommodate this collaborative effort we have adapted our development methodology. Our development methodology involves rigorous design of the system, coding the system, performing task management, version control, unit testing, documentation, website maintenance, etc. Task management included setting milestones, deadlines, dividing the work load between team members and the organization of meetings.

I am familiar with the traditional 'waterfall' model (requirements analysis - design - implementation - testing) of software development, but also have experience with agile programming methodologies such as extreme programming and rigorous unit testing methodologies.

Programming Language Proficiency

I am proficient in the following 'mainstream' Programming Languages: Java, C, C++, SQL, Ruby.

I am familiar (i.e. I have experimented with) Javascript/AJAX, PHP, C# and Objective-C. Given my background in programming languages and my education, I am confident that these and other languages can be mastered rapidly.

I am also proficient in the following more well-known 'academic' languages: Scheme, Prolog, Smalltalk, Self, Pascal

Software Technology Proficiency

Thorough knowledge of UML, HTML, XML, Java RMI, testing with JUnit, development in Eclipse. Knowledge of CVS, SVN, .NET, J2EE, Ruby on Rails and J2ME. Experience in working with MySQL and Postgres database systems. Aspect-oriented software development in AspectJ. Component-based software development using JavaBeans. Knowledge of web services, service-oriented architectures and their related technologies (XML, SOAP, HTTP, ...). Extensive knowledge of event-driven software systems.

Expert in object-oriented technology, software development (analysis, design, design patterns and implementation) and programming languages. Thorough knowledge of compiler- and interpreter development, distributed and concurrent platforms and frameworks and metaprogramming. Knowledgeable in the area of aspect-oriented programming. Knowledge of Computer Graphics.

Knowledge of Macintosh OS X, Windows and Linux operating systems.