John Drogo

Education

Ph.D. Columbia University
GPA — N/A (First Semester)
Major in Electrical Engineering (focus in Wireless Networks)
Started 8/2023 – Current

M.S. Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering
Major in Electrical and Computer Engineering
GPA — 4.0 / 4.0 (with Honors)
Graduated 8/2020

B.S. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
GPA — 3.97 / 4.0 (Summa Cum Laude)
Dual Major in Computer Systems Engineering & Computer Science Graduated 12/2016

Outreach & Education

COSMOS Intro to Networking Event, Brooklyn Latin School — Oct. 2023
CSEdWeek Career Panelist, East Syracuse-Minoa High School — Dec. 2022
Hour of Code Event Host, Virtual Event with NYC Public School Students — Dec. 2021
STEM Career Night Panelist, Pine Grove Middle School — May, 2020, May 2019
Intro to Bluetooth Career Outreach Event, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — Sept. 20

Work Experience

Google Inc., Software Engineer — June 2020 – August 2023
Tech Lead & Senior Software engineer in Data Residency team of Google Cloud Security.
Monitoring & Compliance — January 2022 – Current (SWE L5, promoted 11/2022)
Internal Conformance — June 2020 – January 2022 (SWE L4)
• Investigated, designed, and developed highly distributed anomaly detection
systems to verify and enforce data residency requirements in Google Cloud’s
network infrastructure. As technology lead worked with product and management
to plan and coordinate execution of small team of engineers accomplishing this
goal. I worked with teams throughout Google Cloud to identify, prevent, and
remediate data residency and security gaps with their systems.

SRC Inc., STELR Engineer — February 2017 – June 2020
A rotation program focused on developing technical leaders in the company. Roles included:
Digital Engineer — May 2019 – June 2020 (Engineer 2A)
• Developed digital signal processing blocks for the receive and transmit paths of an
on the move radar. Work included researching, designing, and implementing DSP
chains in VHDL, developing models in MATLAB/Python for unit testing, and
verifying waveform characteristics with laboratory equipment.
Systems Engineer — July 2018 – May 2019 (Engineer 1B)
• Investigated and built resource scheduling algorithms for a counter UAS
operational area protection system. Developed a Python based simulated
environment to visualize and prove algorithms. Analyzed results of tactical system
to verify performance and met with customers to design specified engagements.
Software Engineer — February 2017 – July 2018 (Engineer 1A)
• Developed precise time, sensor fusion, and network configuration algorithms for
counter-UAS systems. Developed secure, verifiable systems configuration images
for tactical laptop fleet to meet DoD cyber compliance. Used technologies include
C++, C#, RHEL, and Windows ADK.

24Shots, Inc., Electrical Engineer — January 2016 – Dec. 2019 (Engineering Contractor)
• Primary engineer for development of a consumer wireless (BLE) camera follow focus
produced by a startup. Responsibilities included establishing requirements, system
architecture, and designing control circuits, algorithms, and software for both the
embedded system and mobile devices. Studied, implemented, and verified dynamic
calibration and control algorithm for precise motor control. Took product from initial
draft through to shipping several hundred units to end customers.

NebulousLabs, Software Engineer Internship — Summer 2016 (Intern)
• Designed and developed interface panels for a crypto-currency powered decentralized
storage application. Principle technologies included React, Redux, and Electron.

SRC, Inc., Software Engineer Internship — Summer 2015 (Intern)
• Designed and developed a modern web based interface for a collection of
environmental fate estimation tools. Responsibilities included developing a purpose
built SVG chart rendering and template system driven by AngularJS.

Research Experience

Columbia University, Wireless & Mobile Networking Group — August 2023 – Present
Advisor: Dr. Gil Zussman
• Investigating novel networking configuration algorithms in a city-scale testbed to
efficiently reallocate traffic in adverse conditions. Developing and verifying effects of
novel waveforms and DSP techniques for joint sensing and communication with
phased array mmWave systems.

Johns Hopkins University, Master’s Thesis — January 2020 – August 2020
Advisor: Dr. Dave Clader
• Explored application of quantum algorithms to solving the problem of routing a PCB
circuit board. Performed survey of relevant literature and chose a quantum variational
approach to support implementation on noisy intermediate scale quantum (NISQ)
systems. Following the framework of QAOA developed a mixer operator that encoded
the requirements for arbitrary single net-list routing problems. Created a Python
framework based on Qiskit to simulate the mixer on a series of 16, 25, and 49 qubit
systems and verified the returned routes were complete with higher probabilities given
to those that were more optimal. Complied and successfully defended thesis and
presented work to research group at APL.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Smart Energy Research Group — March 2014 – June 2016
Advisor: Dr. Koushik Kar
• Investigated efficient HVAC control leveraging distributed IoT sensors and occupant
feedback. Responsibilities included developing central server software and networking
scheme used to coordinate sensors within a smart energy network. Designed and built
custom bluetooth sensors to assist with experimentation. Frequent work with BLE,
iOS and macOS’s CoreBluetooth Framework, and the TI SensorTag. Culminated in
co-author publication accepted in Energy and Buildings.

Syracuse University, Computation Physics Research Group — June 2012 – August 2013
Advisor: Dr. Arindam Chakraborty
• Explored transformation of the Hamiltonian for small chemical systems to facilitate
efficiency energy calculation. Responsibilities included developing optimization
framework to tune the parameters of the transformation and automated trial runners.
Culminated in co-author publication accepted in Physical Review A.

Teaching Experience

Columbia University, Digital Information Age, Graduate TA — Aug. 2023 – Dec. 2023
Advisor: Dr. David Vallancourt

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Electronic Circuits Undergrad TA — Jan. 2016 – Dec. 2016
Advisor: Dr. Shayla Sawyer

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Programming Languages Undergrad TA — Fall 2016
Advisor: Dr. Carlos Varela

Awards

Byron Fellow, Columbia University — 2023
Recipient of engineering school fellowship recognizing scholastic excellence.

Cloud Tech Impact Award, Google, Inc. — 2022, 2021
Two time recipient of company award for major contributions to projects that had a
profound impact to the security, reliability, and impact of cloud technologies.

Blue Arrow Award, SRC, Inc. — 2021, 2020, 2019
Three time recipient of company award recognizing excellence in research, execution,
and collaboration.

Archimedean scholar, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — 2015
Honors program recognizing undergraduate scholastic excellence and attaining a 4.0
GPA for one or more semesters.

Dean’s List, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
Maintained Dean’s List (GPA > 3.5) status for all undergraduate semesters.

Publications

Gupta, S. K., Atkinson, S., O’Boyle, I., Drogo, J., Kar, K., Mishra, S., & Wen, J. T. (2016).
BEES: Real-time occupant feedback and environmental learning framework for
collaborative thermal management in multi-zone, multi-occupant buildings. Energy and
buildings, 125, 142-152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.04.084

Bayne, M. G., Drogo, J., & Chakraborty, A. (2014). Infinite-order diagrammatic summation
approach to the explicitly correlated congruent transformed Hamiltonian. Physical
Review A – Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, 89(3), [032515]. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.89.032515