Rick graduated with honors from Carnegie-Mellon University with a double major in cognitive science and human-computer interaction. He also has a Master’s in human-computer interaction. He contributes a strong understanding of empirical research methods, user testing, software, artificial intelligence, and an inherent curiosity about who people are and why they do what they do.
Before joining MAYA, Rick worked as the user testing lead and project manager on an interdisciplinary team that designed and developed a handheld problem-reporting system for NASA.
The device is under development, slated for deployment alongside Project Constellation, the next iteration of the shuttle.
While at CMU, Rick co-authored a paper about cooperation between human users and intelligent systems that was published in an artificial intelligence journal. He also studied guitar performance and was a captain and conference All-Star on the lacrosse team.
When not at work, Rick can generally be found playing his guitar, piano, or harmonica; catching some live jazz or blues; or walking around Pittsburgh with a basketball trying to find a good game of pickup hoops.