Dr. Daniel Hampikian

Bio:

I have always wanted to give back to communities and help people improve their physical and mental wellbeing, and after studying computer science, philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience for many years, found that creating and teaching others to create software was an ideal way for me to help people become their best selves and help communities overcome challenges with technological solutions.

I began my career as an academic in philosophy, and while teaching for several universities I became increasingly interested in minds and how they improve, degrade, and process emotions and information. My research extended beyond human minds and intelligence and I sought to understand intelligence more broadly, including artificial intelligence, a relatively new field at the time. My phd in philosophy specialized in ethics, artificial inteligence, emotions and the philosophy of mind and my subsequent research and writing in computer science focused on technical and theoretical developments in AI and their philosophical implications.

Eventually I decided that the best way to acquire knowledge in this area was to learn how to create AI (from ML algorithms and models to 3D animated and simulated physics bound sensing and acting reinforcement learnining agents in video games), so I retrained as a computer scientist as I taught philosophy courses, and began agressively studying software development and taking computer science classes at BSU, with a strong focus on AI development.

Eventually I got my CS degree from BSU and found at the time that I was most useful and fulfilled by enabling others to create software by teaching both technology and philosophy together, and found a place where that was welcomed and my research and learning was able to thrive in an innovative and collaborative environment. Before finishing my computer science degree I was offered a teaching position and became an Assistant Professor of Game, Web, and Mobile Developmentin the GIMM department in the College of Inovation and Design at Boise State University. Since then I have taught at many universities and coding bootcamp companies and worked as everything from a lowly QA regression testing intern to a startup CTO and lead developer in the tech industry.

I am passionate about continuously learning and extending and improving my development and creative skillset as well as the range of skills I can teach to others. I currently teach for Georgia State University and DePaul University and consult part time while pursing a cybersecurity master's degree online at WGU. I continue to keep abreast developments in AI and AR/VR software development and to create free youtube tutorials, prezi presentations, and medium articles to give back to the communivty of developers sharing their methods and their code to improve the collective knowledge of all developers curious and determined enough to figure out how to do something that seems, until it is done, impossible. I learn as much if not more from such people as I do from computer science professors, and I hope my small contribution to the spirit of open source and open learning that is still prevalent in enough corners of the internet that an aspiring and ambitious curiousity and willingness to learn how to learn better can find the information and resources they need to accomplish their goals and improve their minds and abilities. I am always looking for collaborations and willing to contribute my time and skills to meaningful projects that improve the world and the people in it, either through sheer artistic novelity and creativity or by ingenious solutions to social, environmental, physical and pyschological problems. projects to engage in with innovative, creative, and motivated individuals. If you have an idea for software, artwork, or music please reach out on social media or by email below and I will get back to you as soon as I can and help you accomplish your goals and dreams as others have helped me accomplish my own.

Software Development and Teaching Experience

Dr. Daniel Hampikian was a founding member of the GIMM program: a relatively new and innovative agile and cohort based educational program at BSU where he was an Assistant Professor of Game, Web, and Mobile Development in the College of Innovation and Design.

Some of the more innovative development courses that were created and taught by Dr. Daniel Hampikian at Universities like BSU and for Coding Bootcamp Companies like Coding Dojo include:

AWS Hosted Full Stack Web Development: Foundational Knowledge and Practical Applications of AWS Cloudfront, ec2, S3, Route 53 and JavaScript, html, css, scss, sass, Bootstrap, Angular, Node, Express, MongoDB, and Wordpress

AR/VR/MR/XR Multiplayer Game Development: Using the Unity game engine and Unreal game engine to create Multiplayer AR/VR/MR/XR (augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, and extended reality) Multiplayer Game Development

Cross Platform Mobile App Development: Using Ionic, React, Node.js, and Firebase to create scalable native apps for Android, iOS, web, and desktop

Machine Learning and Networking for AI (artificial intellegence) Agents: AI Agents and Machine Learning for Game and Business Applications

Project Management for Digital Portfolio Artifacts: Agile Methodology, Project Management, QA, UX Design, and Development best practices including git version control and scrum groups and Team Cooperation and Leadership in Game and Industry Development