LabVIEW Champion: Jack Dunaway

[wirebirdlabs]

LabVIEW Champion Member Profile - Jack Dunaway

At a glance:

Jack Dunaway

Certified LabVIEW Architect, LabVIEW Champion

Founder at Wirebird Labs

Austin, TX, USA

Links:

Wirebird Labs: Expert Toolkits for LabVIEW

Who is JackDunaway?

Summary:

Jack is a LabVIEW Champion and Certified LabVIEW Architect, fanatical about engineering the finest UX imaginable. Despite degrees in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, he came running to Software Engineering after falling in love with graphical development. Since 2006, Jack has racked up 14k+ hours developing LabVIEW for research laboratories, industrial manufacturing, embedded machine control, as a consultant, and as an avid participant in the online LabVIEW community.

Selected projects using LabVIEW:

• Thermoresistometer to measure bulk electrical resistivity metals from room temp to 2000°F
• Thermomagnetometer to measure relative magnetic permeability of ferrous disks from room temp to 1850°F
• System to control and monitor hybrid High Frequency Induction/Resistive Butt Welding procedure
• System to measure temperature profiles of HFIW processes
• Automated test procedure/fixture for Drawn Arc Stud Welding process
• Touchscreen User Interface, self-diagnostics, event and data logging for onboard HMI of World's Largest Front-End Loader
• Control system for Mass Spectrometer
• Manufacturing production tester for biomedical device
• Automated Deployment product for LabVIEW
  

Appearances and Presentations:

• August 2011: NIWeek Presentation, "The Business Side of Social", 60 minutes
• August 2011: NIWeek Panel, "Challenge the Champions" gameshow
  
• August 2012: NIWeek Panel, "Challenge the Champions" gameshow
  
• August 2012: NIWeek Panel, "VI Shots Live"
  
• January 2013: Architect's Forum presentation, "User Events, Tips, Tricks, and Sundry", 60 minutes
  
• February 2013: Architect's Forum presentation, "Deployment Automation and Release Engineering in LabVIEW", 60 minutes
  
• February 2013: LabVIEW Developer Education Day in Austin, "Architect's Panel Discussion"
  
• March 2013: CLA Summit in Austin, "Deployment Automation and Release Engineering in LabVIEW", 60 minutes
  
• April 2013: CLA Summit in Paris, "User Events, Tips, Tricks, and Sundry", 60 minutes
• April 2013: Architect's Forum panel, "CLA Summit Recollections", 45min
  
• August 2013: NIWeek Presentation, "User Events, Tips, Tricks, and Sundry", 60min
  
• August 2013: NIWeek Presenation, "Deployment Automation and Release Engineering in LabVIEW", 60 minutes
  

Biography:

While studying Electrical and Mechanical Engineering at LeTourneau University, I was faced with a dilemma: take a job grading papers for $6/hr, or work in the Materials Joining Lab automating and instrumenting for $12/hr. With the noblest of intentions, scruples aside, I sought the path any ambitious college kid would choose: c'mon man, twelve bucks an hour! Unbeknownst to this oblivious undergrad, perhaps blinded by the dollar signs in his eyes, an additional inheritance was waiting - an utter LabVIEW disaster. Express VIs, Stacked Sequence Structures with "variable declarations" in the first frame, BDs and FPs that spanned screens, 100% CPU - you get the picture. Within days, LabVIEW became my nemesis. Within months, LabVIEW became tolerable, and within the year, my passion. The trajectory for my career had been set, with notable waypoints including earning LabVIEW Champion status in 2010, working with the world-famous JKI team for over a year, and founding Wirebird Labs LLC in 2012.

I enjoy machining and welding, catfishing with the obligatory tribute to breweriana, recreational programming, beard growing and RFC-2323 compliance, and exploring the world with wife Lauren and daughter Liberty, who both (curtly) forgive me when I accidentally say "I LabVIEW" instead of "I love you" at night.