Hi, My Name is
Joshua Maddy.
The Metaphysical Museum is a long-term virtual reality based project that aims to bring a museum like experience to the classroom. By developing exploratory VR applications I hope to inspire students to take deeper dives into the presented topics. The first wing focuses on the visual arts - a personal passion - and introduces students to various periods of art history. The second in progress wing, funded by the WV NASA Consortium, focuses on space and space exploration. By using the Unity XR Toolkit, the application is cross-compatible with all leading VR platforms, including the Meta Quest 2 and HTC Vive/Pro.
Going through Physics I, I would often make mental and paper models of systems to rationalize interactions. As part of the 2022 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience at Marshall University, I attempted to bring these mental models closer to reality by leveraging augmented reality. By projecting and manipulating common systems, students would have a deeper understanding of the interactions without the expense of lab equipment. This was my first project in Unity, and it involved custom UI renderers and procedural meshes in-engine. The code for the project is here on GitHub.
As an avid researcher at Marshall University I would often get asked by my peers how I was able to get a research position. I would also be asked by faculty if I knew of a good candidate. From these conversations, I identified that there was a disconnect between motivated students and searching faculty. The goal of Research Search is to create a closed ecosystem at Marshall University to connect these two parties. Built on Flask, Jinja, SQLAlchemy, Alembic, and jQuery, the application is light and easily customizable.
For Software Engineering 1, my team developed a web application for storing information about tabletop roleplaying games, such as a character, their information, inventories, items, homes, friends, family, familiars, etc. We designed the database to be highly interconnected, allowing for traversal from any table to any other table through logical ORM mapping via SQLAlchemy. Using my familiar Flask, Jinja, SQLAlchemy, and jQuery technology stack, the team coordinated and delivered a minimum viable product within the semester. The code for the project is here on GitHub.
Creating Power Virtual Agents for conversational support tickets with generative AI and designing a multi-departmental workflow for boosting research opportunities.
Composed an academic paper analyzing a case of virtual education during the pandemic with a focus on the efficacy of physical aids in Adapting Cybersecurity Teacher Training Camp to Virtual Learning.
Evaluation of student work in Data Structures and Algorithms. Coding assistance and critique in Java.
Education and promotion of space sciences via Virtual Reality for K-12
Evaluation of Augmented Reality in the classroom via Physics demonstrations.
Evaluation of Virtual Reality Museum experiences with a focus on the arts.
I've spent over three years honing my python development skills with a focus on building web applications, performing data analysis, and writing efficient scripts.
Primarily with Unity, I've been using C# to create VR based applications that aim to enhance the learning experience since 2021.
Extensive usage with data structure tasks, from implementing classics like self balancing trees to building scalable, efficient data structures from scratch.
Starting with Vanilla JS and jQuery, I'm continuing to explore javascript frameworks like Vue and React to create more dynamic, single page web applications.
The backbone of the web, I've been enhancing my abilities to write lean HTML and CSS with Sass so I can spend more time on the details and less time on the boilerplate.
My backend of choice, Flask has enabled me to create dynamic web applications from scratch with quick turnaround and high modularity. I use Jinja with Flask to create dynamic elements and programatic HTML.
By harnessing the abstractions and ORM provided by SQLAlchemy, and the database version control from Alembic, I have a strong grasp on database design and query building, from MySQL to Oracle.
For three years I've been using the Unity Engine to create experimental VR experiences for the classroom. From the fine arts to the stars, I'm developing applications to make learning more interactive and fun.
Since 2016 I've been using Blender as a creative outlet and a tool. With experience in asset and character creation, as well as rigging, sculpting, retopology, and animation, I've explored much of what it has to offer.
Blender lacks CAD features, so I've supplemented it with Fusion 360. I've designed miniature pinball cabinets, functional 3D prints for my home, and mockups of room layouts as both a hobbyist and student.
A creative at heart, I've had experience with the Adobe suite as a whole since 2016 with a focus in Photoshop as both a general photo editing tool and a painting application.
As a long supporter of Allegorithmic's Substance Painter, I've been using the Substance suite of texturing tools to improve my models realism and artistic look.
##Notes
#Theme inspired by Catppuccin.
#Built with Sass, jQuery, and Lightbox2.
#By Joshua Maddy, with <3