Daniel Winterstein

Winterwell Associates

Winterwell Associates

Winterwell is a team of experts who apply cutting-edge techniques from maths, computer science and artificial intelligence (AI) to solve real-world problems.

• Startup type: Company
• Status: Active
• Stage: Profitable

Employer:	Winterwell Associates
Position:	Director
Time period:	June 2008 - Present

Employer:	ThinkTank Mathematics Ltd
Position:	Senior A.I. consultant / developer
Time period:	January 2005 - Present
Description:	Working on a variety of cutting-edge projects producing innovative and powerful A.I. solutions. This is a client-facing job. I work with clients to identify problems and create solutions. My responsibilities include scoping, software architecture, testing and delivery, team-management, and of course software development. Clients include the BBC (game development, natural language programming), Motorola (network ptimisation), Roslin Institute (order-of-magnitude performance improvements), and BAE (statistical inference). I am currently project lead on a £½million defence related contract.

Employer:	ThinkTank Mathematics Ltd
Position:	Executive director
Time period:	January 2005 - May 2008
Description:	Engaged in mathematical/AI problem solving and consultation for the private sector. Developing the company as a startup (co-founder).

Employer:	RealTime Worlds
Position:	Software developer
Time period:	January 2005 - December 2006
Description:	RealTime Worlds (an offshoot of DMA Designs) is one of Britain's leading games development studios. RealTime produce state-of-the-art next-generation games for leading industry players: the triple-A hit “Crackdown” for Microsoft, and upcoming MMORPG, “APB” for WebZen. My position involved designing and coding innovative software for games development as part of a small 'agile programming' team.

Employer:	The Scotsman newspaper
Position:	Science columnist (ongoing part-time)
Time period:	January 2005 - December 2006
Description:	Writing a monthly column on technology for this national broadsheet.

Employer:	College of Humanities & Social Sciences, Edinburgh University
Position:	Statistics consultant
Time period:	January 2003 - December 2004
Description:	Advising on the development of a new admissions policy.We worked closely with admissions staff to identify their needs (requirements capture), used A.I. techniques to investigate their problems, and thus developed a specific policy with supporting information tools that would help them to achieve their objectives.

Employer:	Edinburgh University
Position:	University tutor
Time period:	January 2000 - December 2003
Description:	University tutor in Informatics, teaching a wide range of courses, including programming (Java, Perl, and Prolog), theoretical linguistics, introduction to AI, and logic for philosophers. Tutoring – which I greatly enjoyed – requires both a good knowledge of the subject, and the ability to communicate technical ideas.

Employer:	Micromuse
Position:	Web developer and administrator
Time period:	June 1999 - August 1999
Description:	Micromuse are a billion-dollar company producing network stability software. My job involved responsibility for the company web-site, including page design, server maintenance and CGI / SQL database programming. I was project lead in a small team.

Employer:	Dept. of Artificial Intelligence, Edinburgh University
Position:	Game demo developer
Time period:	December 2005
Description:	Producing a demo of A.I. techniques for display in the Museum of Scotland. This involved design and programming, using a mix of C and Java.

Employer:	Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science
Position:	Web developer
Time period:	December 2005
Description:	Lead developer on an e-commerce application for managing conference bookings using Python

Employer:	Office of Lifelong Learning, Edinburgh University
Position:	JavaScript teacher (part-time)
Time period:	December 2005
Description:	Computing demonstrator, Division of Informatics outreach program. Introducing school children to ideas from computing and artificial intelligence.

Employer:	Edinburgh University
Position:	Software developer
Time period:	December 2004
Description:	Lead developer in a team of four. This involved the development and implementation of a sophisticated IDE using Java and Eclipse.

Employer:	Chauntra Tibetan Refugee School, India
Position:	Primary school teacher
Time period:	December 1996

Employer:	Charing Cross Hospital
Position:	Receptionist
Time period:	December 1995

Employer:	Freelance
Position:	Computer Game Developer
Time period:	December 1995
Description:	Freelance Computer Game Developer, selling C/assembly games using a shareware model.

University:	University of Edinburgh
Time period:	2000 - 2004
Degree:	Informatics, PhD

University:	University of Edinburgh
Time period:	1999 - 2000
Degree:	Artificial Intelligence, MSc

University:	University of Cambridge
Time period:	1996 - 1999
Degree:	Mathematics, MA

Papers:

Published 11 peer-reviewed papers (ten in conference proceedings and one journal paper) on various A.I. topics: Mathematical modelling (at ESGI) Visual Logic (at the Diagrams and IJCAR conferences) Artificial Intelligence interfaces (at ETAPS and IJCAI, and in ENTCS). Computational creativity (at ICCBR and IJCAI)

Sports:	Swimming, cycling, Karate (green belt) and occasionally climbing. Rowed (badly) and played tabletennis for my college as an undergraduate.
Hobbies:	- Playing computer games (especially ‘physical’ Wii games and real-time strategy games). - Developing open source software (JTwitter, the Java-Twitter interface, and a text-editor plugin for the Eclipse IDE). - Performed stand up comedy at The Stand club, Edinburgh & Glasgow - I have also travelled widely, enjoy playing the guitar and am learning the flute. - DJed a two hour weekly show on Cambridge University Radio. - Directed a short film. - Creative writing is an ongoing (occasionally semi-professional) hobby. I enjoy writing in several different forms: • Theatre (with pieces performed at the Bedlam and the Traverse theatres) • Comedy sketches (freelance writer for BBC Radio Scotland's 'The Why Front' and The Stand's 'Melting Pot') • Short stories (published in various obscure art-house magazines, occasionally performed at live readings run by the Edinburgh University Creative Writing Society) • Cartoons (published in art-house magazines, also sold via the independent bookshop 'Word Power') • Journalism (science columnist for The Scotsman, theatre critic and book festival reporter for Fest paper (2004) and EdinburghGuide.com (2001-2002), arts section writer for Student newspaper (2001), editor for Edinburgh University AI magazine (2000)) • Technical writing about programming on javablog.co.uk. • I have also been involved as editor or designer in several student magazines and e-zines.
Memberships:	- Member of People & Planet and the Green Party; organised a successful campaign to 'green the curriculum'. - Youth group organiser (for BBYO), and taught for two years at synagogue Sunday school. Worked on a summer youth camp in 1994