Mike O’Neal, Ph.D.

Mike O’Neal is the Founder and Chief Scientist of Network Foundation Technologies – a company focused on developing and marketing online distributed broadcast technologies. In addition to his career in industry, Mike has over two decades of experience in the field of higher education. He is a professor and former Chair of the Computer Science Program at Louisiana Tech University, where he holds the Larson Endowed Professorship. Dr. O’Neal received his BS (Magna Cum Laude, 1982) and MS (1984) from Louisiana Tech, and his Ph.D. (1989) from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. In the 1999 to 2001 time frame Mike was Co-Founder and CTO of OneNetNow.com, a community-based web portal focused on the urban community, which was acquired by EarthLink in 2001. Dr. O’Neal’s academic research interests include computer science education and artificial intelligence, as well as developing distributed online broadcast technologies.

Education:

• Ph.D. Computer Science, University of Louisiana, 1989
• M.S. Computer Science, Louisiana Tech University, 1984
• B.S. (Magna Cum Laude) Computer Science, Louisiana Tech University, 1982

Experience:

• Louisiana Tech University, Computer Science
• Full Professor, 2009 – present
• Program Chair, Computer Science, 1996 – 1999, 2002 – 2007
• Associate Professor, 1993 – 2009
• Assistant Professor, 1987 – 1993
• Network Foundation Technologies
• Founder & Chief Scientist, Dec. 2000 – present
• EarthLink
• Consultant, June 2001 – May 2002
• Staff Engineer, Feb. 2001 – June 2001
• OneNetNow.com
• Co-Founder, May 1999
• Chief Technology Officer, May 1999 – Feb. 2001
• The Yucaipa Company
• Consultant, 1999 – 2005

Awards:

• 2011 Tibbetts Award, presented to Network Foundation Technologies, LLC, in recognition of outstanding contributions to the SBIR Program, U.S. Small Business Administration.
• Louisiana Technology Council, 2009 Governor's Technology Awards, Company of the Year awarded to Network Foundation Technologies, LLC.
• Louisiana Tech University, College of Engineering and Science, Larson Endowed Chair, 2006 – present
• State of Louisiana, Fellow of Excellence Award in Undergraduate Computer Science Education, 1998 – 1999
• Louisiana Tech University, College of Engineering and Science, Ben T. Bogard Endowed Chair, 1998 – 1999
• Louisiana Tech University, College of Engineering and Science, Outstanding Achievement Award in Instruction, 1994 – 1995

Research Interests:

• Distributed Online Broadcast Technologies
• Developing Courseware and Innovative Approaches for Computer Science Education

Teaching Interests:

• Introduction to Computing
• Theory of Computing
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Graphics

Patents (issued)

• United States Patent #8,219,659, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Continuation of Vtree”), Mike O’Neal and John Talton, Network Foundation Technologies, filed December 2009, issued July 2012.
• United States Patent #8,103,750, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Core 2.5”), Mike O’Neal, Joel Francis, Tara Johnson, Ben Stroud, Landon Wright, Network Foundation Technologies, filed September 2009, issued January 2012.
• United States Patent #7,925,726, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Divisional #2 of Reconfiguration”), Mike O’Neal and John Talton, Network Foundation Technologies, filed January 2008, issued April 2011.
• United States Patent #7,895,324, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Continuation of Start up”), Mike O’Neal and John Talton, Network Foundation Technologies, filed May 2009, issued February 2011.
• United States Patent #7,843,855, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Alpha-Beta Extension”), Mike O’Neal, Network Foundation Technologies, filed May 2007, issued November 2010.
• United States Patent #7,818,407, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Divisional #1 of Reconfiguration”), Mike O’Neal and John Talton, Network Foundation Technologies, filed January 2008, issued October 2010.
• United States Patent #7,664,840, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Vtree”), Mike O’Neal and John Talton, Network Foundation Technologies, filed July 2005, issued February 2010.
• United States Patent #7,543,074, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Divisional #1 of Base Case”), Mike O’Neal and Joshua Kleinpeter, Network Foundation Technologies, filed September 2005, issued June 2009.
• United States Patent #7,536,472, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Start up”), Mike O’Neal and John Talton, Network Foundation Technologies, filed July 2005, issued May, 2009.
• United States Patent #7,512,676, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Reconfiguration”), Mike O’Neal and John Talton, Network Foundation Technologies, filed July 2005, issued March 2009.
• United States Patent #7,035,933, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Base Case”), Mike O’Neal and Joshua Kleinpeter, Network Foundation Technologies, filed September 2001, issued April 2006.

Patents (pending)

• United States Patent Application #12/372,900, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Divisional #1 of Divisional #1 of Base Case”), Mike O’Neal and Joshua Kleinpeter, Network Foundation Technologies, filed February 2009, allowed May 2012.
• United States Provisional Patent Application #13/356,423, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Continuation of Core 2.5”), Mike O’Neal, Joel Francis, Tara Johnson, Ben Stroud, Landon Wright, Network Foundation Technologies, filed January 2012.
• United States Patent Application #12/844,550, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Continuation of Divisional #2 of Reconfiguration”), Mike O’Neal and John Talton, Network Foundation Technologies, filed July 2010.
• United States Patent Application #11/408,169, “System for Distributing Content Data Over a Computer Network and Method of Arranging Nodes for Distribution of Data Over a Computer Network” (internal name: “Augmentation Server”), Mike O’Neal, John Talton, Ben Stroud, Charles R. Norman, Joel Francis, Network Foundation Technologies, filed April 2006.

Publications:

Books & Journal Articles:

• The Science of Computing: An Introduction, Mike O’Neal, 1995 – present, published “in house” at Louisiana Tech University. Various versions of this manuscript have been used continuously at Louisiana Tech for more than a decade as the primary text for CSC 100.
• “Introductory Level Computer Science Courseware”, Jeremy Hill and Mike O’Neal, The Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, Vol. 20, No. 6, pp 31-39, Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges, April 2005.
• “Restructuring Computing Programs to Meet Employment Challenges”, Mike O’Neal, Computer, Vol. 37, No. 11, pp 29-34, IEEE Computer Society, November 2004.
• “Complexity Measures for Rule-Based Programs,” Mike O’Neal and William R. Edwards, Jr., IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, Vol. 6, No. 5, October 1994.
• “Comprehending Rule-Based Programs: A Graph-Oriented Approach,” Mike O’Neal and William R. Edwards, Jr., International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, Vol. 39, No. 1, Pages 147-175, July 1993.

Papers Presented at Conferences: (Peer Reviewed)

• “Effective Internet Education”, Barry L. Kurtz, Dee Parks, and Mike O’Neal, Proceedings Computers and Advanced Technology in Education (CATE 2004), Kauai, Hawaii, August 2004.
• “Developing Educational Materials in Java - A Report from the Front Lines”, Barry L. Kurtz and Mike O’Neal, Proceedings National Education Computing Conference, June 1998.
• “Watson: A Modular Software Environment for Introductory Computer Science Education,” Mike O’Neal and Barry L. Kurtz, Proceedings 26th Annual SIGCSE Technical Symposium (SIGCSE’95), pages 87-91, Nashville, March 2, 1995.
• “Design and Implementation of a Generalized Problem Solving Assistant for Algorithm Development”, Barry L. Kurtz, Unmesh S. Mayekar, and Mike O’Neal, Proceedings 26th Annual SIGCES Technical Symposium (SIGCSE’95), pages 97-101, Nashville, March 2, 1995.
• “A Software Laboratory Environment for Computer-based Problem Solving”, Barry L. Kurtz and Mike O’Neal, Proceedings National Education Computing Conference, June 1994.
• “An Empirical Study of Three Common Software Complexity Measures,” Mike O’Neal, Proceedings Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC-93), Pages 203-207, February 1993.
• “A Semantic Interpreter for a Transportable Command Language Interface, Lisa E. Moore and Mike O’Neal, Proceedings Symposium on Applied Computing, April 1990
• “A Primer on the Design of Experiments for Computer Scientists”, Kevin Paul Dankwardt, Jeffrey Mitchell, and Mike O’Neal, Proceedings ACM South Central Regional Conference, 1987.

Papers / Abstracts Presented at Conferences (Not Fully Refereed):

• “Requirements for a General Purpose Engineering Programming Language”, Donald W. Yates, J. William Ray, Jr., and Mike O’Neal, Proceedings ASEE Annual Conference, 1991.
• “A Proposed Method of Enabling Explanation Generation in a Classification Neural Network” (extended abstract), J. M. Lowe and Mike O’Neal, Proceedings ACM South Central Regional Conference, November 1989.
• “Measuring and Controlling Complexity in Rule-based Programs”, Mike O’Neal and William R. Edwards, Jr., Proceedings IASTED International Symposium, Expert Systems Theory and Applications, December 1988.
• “The Effect of Rule-based Solutions on Programmer Comprehension”, Mike O’Neal, Kevin Paul Dankwardt, and Jeffrey Mitchell, Proceeding ACM South Eastern Regional Conference, 1988.

Research Grants:

• Principal investigator, Louisiana Board of Regents, “Integrating Robotics into the Computer Science Curriculum”. Project activation date: June 2012. Project duration: 12 months. Funded for $70,000. [Infrastructure]
• Principal investigator, National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), “SBIR Phase II (i6): Implementation, Testing and Refinement of a Hybrid Distributed / Traditional System for Broadcasting Live and Pre-Recorded Content to Large Online Audiences - Research Experience for Undergraduates”. Project activation date: November 2011. Project duration: 4 months. Funded for $100,000. [Research]
• Principal investigator, National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), “SBIR Phase II-REU: Implementation, Testing and Refinement of a Hybrid Distributed / Traditional System for Broadcasting Live and Pre-Recorded Content to Large Online Audiences - Research Experience for Undergraduates”. Project activation date: June 2010. Project duration: 6 months. Funded for $16,000. [Research]
• Principal investigator, National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), “SBIR Phase IIB: Implementation, Testing and Refinement of a Hybrid Distributed / Traditional System for Broadcasting Live and Pre-Recorded Content to Large Online Audiences”. Proposal Approved: August 2009. Project activation date: Oct 2009. Project duration: 24 months. Funded for $500,000. [Research]
• Principal investigator, National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), “SBIR Phase II-REU: Implementation, Testing and Refinement of a Hybrid Distributed / Traditional System for Broadcasting Live and Pre-Recorded Content to Large Online Audiences - Research Experience for Undergraduates”. Project activation date: June 2008. Project duration: 6 months. Funded for $12,000. [Research]
• Principal investigator, National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), “SBIR Phase II: Implementation, Testing and Refinement of a Hybrid Distributed / Traditional System for Broadcasting Live and Pre-Recorded Content to Large Online Audiences”. Project activation date: February 2008. Project duration: 24 months. Funded for $500,000. [Research]
• Principal investigator, National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), “SBIR Phase IB: Implementation, Testing and Refinement of a Hybrid Distributed / Traditional System for Broadcasting Live and Pre-Recorded Content to Large Online Audiences”. Project activation date: July 2007. Project duration: 6 months. Funded for $50,000. [Research]
• Principal investigator, National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), “SBIR Phase I: Implementation, Testing and Refinement of a Hybrid Distributed / Traditional System for Broadcasting Live and Pre-Recorded Content to Large Online Audiences”. Project activation date: January 2007. Project duration: 12 months. Funded for $100,000. [Research]
• Co-principal investigator (Barry L. Kurtz, PI), National Science Foundation, “Effective Internet Education for Everyone”. Project activation date: September 1999. Project duration: 4 years. Funded for $300,000. [Research]
• Principal investigator, Navy Information Technology Center Educational Grants Program, “Expanding Student Access to Window’s PCs and Unix Workstations”. Project activation date: April 1999. Funded for $41,100. [Infrastructure]
• Principal investigator, Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund, “Infrastructure Support for Computer Science Research and Instruction”. Project Activation date: June 1997. Funded for $66,000. [Infrastructure]
• Principal investigator, Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund research project: “A Software Development and Maintenance Environment for Rule-based Programming.” Project activation date: June 1, 1995. Project duration: 3 years. Funded for $76,853. [Research]
• Principal investigator, Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund enhancement project: “Computer-based Classroom / Laboratories for Computer Science Research and Instruction.” Project activation date: June 1995. Funded for $150,000 [Infrastructure]
• Co-principal investigator (Barry L. Kurtz, PI), National Science Foundation, CISE Directorate, Office of Cross-Disciplinary Activities: “Integrating Research Results from Parallel and Distributed Computing into the Undergraduate Computer Science Curriculum.” Project activation date: September 1994. Project duration: 3 years. Funded for $238,339. [Research]
• Principal investigators Barry L. Kurtz and Mike O’Neal, National Science Foundation, Undergraduate Curriculum and Course Development Program: “An Interdisciplinary, Laboratory-Oriented Course for Computer-Based Problem Solving.” Project activation date: May 1993. Project duration: 15 months. Funded for $101,833. [Research]
• Principal investigator, Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund enhancement project: “Enhancements to the Computing Resources of the Department of Computer Science at Louisiana Tech University.” Project activation date: September 1991. Funded for $125,000. [Infrastructure]
• Principal investigator, Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund enhancement project: “A Network of Sun Workstations.” Project activation date: September 1988. Funded for $149,070. [Infrastructure]

Start-up Companies:

• Network Foundation Technologies (NFT), incorporated August 2000. I am the founder and chief scientist of this company. The company is focused on developing and marketing technologies for broadcasting live video content over the Internet to large audiences at low cost.
• OneNetNow.com, incorporated in 1999. I was the co-founder (along with Marcus Morton and Yusef Jackson (son of Rev. Jesse Jackson)) of OneNetNow. I also served as the company’s chief technology officer. OneNetNow raised about $4M of investment capital and was focused on bridging the “digital divide”. The company’s primary product was an online community focused web site, similar in many ways to FaceBook. OneNetNow was sold to EarthLink following the dot com crash. (The author is quite proud of this fact as the vast majority of dot com companies from this era went bankrupt with nothing of value to show after burning through their start-up capital.) A number of former OneNetNow employees still worked for EarthLink almost a decade after its acquisition.

Consulting:

• The Yucaipa Company, 1999-2005. During the 1999 through 2005 time frame, I routinely evaluated the technical merits of potential high technology investments for Yucaipa, often reporting directly to CEO Ron Burkle (No. 107 on the 2012 Forbes 400 Richest Americans list).