In March of 1997, I ended my stay as a postdoctor at the Center for Software Engineering at the University of Southern California. I received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1989, and a MS from USC in 1990. My research interests include identifying the characteristics needed to formally describe heterogeneous software architectures, and developing tools and languages to support this. If you're interested in these areas for formal study, or are just interested in doing research in software engineering in general, I can't think of anyone as good as Dr. Barry Boehm when it comes to getting your Ph.D. When you get a Ph.D., it is more like an apprenticeship, and Dr. Boehm is one of the few Masters still roaming around.
Currently, I work as a self-employed consultant in the software development world. In spite of focusing on software architecture for my thesis, it is very difficult to get one's Ph.D. under Dr. Boehm without getting interested in software process...so instead of working as a software architect, I've been working more in software management. You can check out my resume if you want to see what I'm up to. My interests and skills lie solidly in the technology and people domains (a.k.a. product and process), so maybe I can be of some benefit to you.
My email address is aabdalla@cs.usc.edu, and here's a couple of pictures of me. You might also want to check out the award winning home page of the Muslim Students Association at USC.
Before you leave, why don't you introduce yourself to my niece and nephew, Noor and Tarek. That picture was taken the day they were born! They're growing rapidly though, and have even started posing recently!!. Yes, I am quite fond of them, can you tell? (Perhaps "quite loopy over them" is more appropriate). Ma-sha-Allah, and alhamdulillah, Allah is truly the best of Givers.
