Summary
I am Board Chair of Democracy onAir. Democracy onAir is a nonpartisan 501c3 social enterprise that provides technical and management support for the democracy focused networks like US Democracy Network and for other Grand Challenge networks.
I am also acting Executive Director for Maryland onAir developing the procedures for political communicators to easily and effectively become executive directors for one of our 50 US onAir state Hubs.
I am a senior principal software engineer at Northrop Grumman. I have a PhD in Neuroscience from George Mason University.
OnAir Post: Todd Gillette
About
I studied Engineering and Computer Science at Swarthmore College, graduating in 2003, after which I moved to Virginia to work in IT (specifically knowledge managements systems) with Vivakos Inc until 2006. I then entered the Neuroscience PhD Program at George Mason University with a 2-year fellowship from Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study. After the fellowship was over, I became a Graduate Research Assistant under Dr. Giorgio Ascoli at Krasnow’s Center for Neural Informatics, Neural Structures, and Neural Plasticity (CN3) of Giorgio Ascoli. I spent a semester working with Dr. Ted Dumas and helping publish a paper on gene therapy in addressing stress.
In the CN3 as a Graduate Research Assistant under Dr. Ascoli, I used my extensive experience in software development, data management, statistics, data visualization, and bioinformatics. My dissertation research involved bioinformatic pattern searching applied to neuronal morphology, with further interests regarding neuronal networks and their specific information processing roles and capabilities, as well as science policy and educational outreach.
Research
My work centered on neuronal morphology, with a focus in data mining and pattern analysis to determine distinct topological features (i.e. branching patterns) of various neuronal types. Some of my non open access articles can be requested and automatically delivered via my lab’s publications page.
Education
- PhD Neuroscience
George Mason University
2015 - BS Engineering and Computer Science
Swarthmore College
1999 to 2003
Work Experience
- Board Chair
Democracy onAir
2019 to present - Software Engineer
OnAir Networks
2014 to 2018 - Sr. Principal Software Engineer
Northrop Grumman Corporation
2019 to present - Principal Systems Engineer / Future Technical Leader
Northrop Grumman Corporation
2016 to 2019
Organizations
- International Council on Systems Engineering (2017 – present)
- Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (2019 – present)
- Society for Neuroscience (2007 – 2017)
- GMU Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA) delegate for Neuroscience (2009 – 2012)
- Neuroscience Graduate Student Organization – president (2010 – 2011)
Democracy onAir
My long-term goal for Democracy onAir to bring people into the political process by making it easier for them to find information that is directly relevant …then help them to realize how powerful they can be in terms of what happens in their community and states. We want to create an environment where people can discuss without misinformation and disinformation, to engender trust in Democracy onAir and each other. We will promote the posts, people, and comments that build bridges and understanding even while people disagree on the issues and policies.
I received a PhD in neuroscience from George Mason University’s Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study. My research centered on neuronal morphology with a focus on data mining and pattern analysis. Todd has degrees in Engineering and Computer Science from Swarthmore College. He is currently a software engineer at Northrop Grumman.
Web Links
onAir Networks Activities
Posts Authoring
Publications
Topological characterization of neuronal arbor morphology via sequence representation: I – Motif analysis
By: Gillette TA, Ascoli GA
BMC Bioinformatics, 16
Topological characterization of neuronal arbor morphology via sequence representation: II – Global alignment.
By: Gillette TA, Hosseini P, Ascoli GA
BMC Bioinformatics, 16
Statistical analysis and data mining of digital reconstructions of dendritic morphologies
By: Polavaram S, Gillette TA, Parekh R, Ascoli GA
Frontiers in Neuroanatomy, 8(138):138
The DIADEM Metric: Comparing multiple reconstructions of the same neuron
By: Gillette TA, Brown KM, Ascoli GA.
Neuroinformatics
Measuring and Modeling Morphology: How Dendrites Take Shape
By: Gillette TA, Ascoli GA
In Le Novere N. (Ed.), “Computational Systems Neurobiology”, pp. 387-428, Springer
Anti-glucocorticoid gene therapy reverses the impairing effects of elevated corticosterone on spatial memory, hippocampal neuronal excitability, and synaptic plasticity,
By: Theodore C Dumas, Todd A Gillette, Deveroux Ferguson et al.
1712-1720. In Journal of Neuroscience 30 (5)
On Comparing Neuronal Morphologies with the Constrained Tree-edit-distance
By: Todd A Gillette, John J Grefenstette
In Neuroinformatics 7 (3).
Quantifying neuronal size: summing up trees and splitting the branch difference
By: Kerry M Brown, Todd A Gillette, Giorgio A Ascoli
485-493. In Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology 19 (6)
Projects
- Assisted technically in the art sculpture project Mental Floss, producing a virtual model and assisting with the projects underlying data
- Researched at University of Central Florida’s Center for Research in Computer Vision (in 2002 as part of an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates)
