Howard R. Abbey
7663 Sleepy Hollow Dr.
Northville, MI 48168-8800
Tel.: (586)298-2472
E-mail: hrabbey@yahoo.com

Summary

Characterization of I.C.'s, disk drive testing, and firmware programming experience combined with excellent educational record. Well versed in Japanese practices and comfortable working in a multi-national environment. Strong overall hard disk drive knowledge, with understanding of embedded microcode.

Technical Skills

Professional Experience

Integration and Characterization Engineer (4/00 to 1/02)
IBM Microelectronics, Burlington, VT
  • Determined and resolved problems with read/write path on mobile disk drives.
  • Served as a prime contact between Japanese and American development teams, facilitating communication and cooperation.
  • Tested performance of read channel chips, giving feedback to designers allowing prompt problem correction and product enhancement.
  • Spent total of 3 months problem solving on site in Japan, while maintaining close working relationship with American team members.
  • Solved problems including usage issues, product issues, and test screen issues.
  • Increased range of early user hardware lab tests by automating test equipment via GPIB and C code.

Research Assistant (7/98 to 5/99)
C & C Media Research Lab, Nippon Electronics Corporation, (N.E.C.) Tokyo, Japan
  • Simulation, testing and design of echo-cancellation DSP adaptive filter systems for speech recognition systems.
  • Learned Japanese technical business practices through observation and participation in the research environment.

Firmware co-op Engineer (6/97 to 11/97)
Storage Systems Division, International Business Machines, (I.B.M.) Rochester, MN
  • Studied microcode and Japanese documentation for hard drive interface processor for presentation to co-workers, allowing future products to build from that base.
  • Researched performance of high-end hard disk drives, proving viability of new cache indexing algorithm.

Education

Michigan Technological University (M.T.U.), Houghton, MI
BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering Option. Certificate in Modern Language and Area Study in French. G.P.A.: 3.51 / 4.0 Graduation date: 11/99

Japan Center for Michigan Universities, Hikone-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan
One-year thematic focusing on Japanese language and culture. (9/94 to 4/95)

Language Skills