Information
About me
About Me
I
My name is Alex Pawelczyk and I am a current graduate student at the University of Waterloo's
David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science. My passion for computer science began in high
school and has continued to grow throughout my university career. During this time, I have
been fortunate to receive mentorship from my father, Jan Pawelczyk: a software engineer with
over 40 years of professional experience. Hearing stories of some of the projects that he worked
on has motivated me to pursue a career in computer science and make a difference in the world.
Hockey has also had a major impact on my life, and I've been fortunate to play the game that I
love at a competitive level for over 20 years. At 16 years old, I moved from my hometown of
Sterling Heights, MI to Quebec, CA, where I spent the next four years of my life playing for the
Shawinigan Cataractes of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. After finishing my junior hockey
career, I received an athletic scholarship to play on the varsity hockey team at Dalhousie University
and pursue my education in computer science. I played hockey at Dalhousie for 3 years, and I managed
to finish my Bachelor of Computer Science degree during this time. In the fall of 2019, I
transferred to the University of Waterloo to play for the varsity hockey team on an athletic scholarship.
Since then, I've played out my final season of competitive hockey while also pursuing my Master of
Mathematics in Computer Science degree.
Over the past 4 years, I made some memories that will last a lifetime and I learned a lot of valuable
lessons as a student-athlete. These lessons shaped me into the man that I am today, and I am exited to
carry them over to the next chapter of my life in the professional world. I expect to graduate in Decemeber, 2020.
Date of Birth: September 21, 1995
MMath in Computer Science: University of Waterloo (2019 - present)
Bachelor of Computer Science: Dalhousie University (2016 - 2019)
Skills
My Skills
My main skill is software development using the Java programming language. I have a strong understanding of object-oriented programming concepts, data structures, algorithms, software design patterns, and software architectures. Web development is another one of my skills, and I am proficient in HTML/CSS/JavaScript/Bootstrap. I've also had a lot of experience developing Andorid apps with Android Studio, and I know how to integrate different apps with Google Firebase. Other technical skills include data visualization (particularly with D3.js), using machine learning libraries to develop various kinds of models, and a solid understanding of C, C++, Python, and MySQL.
Along with various technical skills, I possess many of the interpersonal skills that are needed to be successful in the business world. Communication is an essential component to the success of any team, and I am comfortable with speaking to groups of people of any size. Athletics have instilled a strong work ethic into me, and I plan to carry this work ethic over into the business world. Leading by example has allowed me to thrive in the various leadership positions that I have been placed in throughout my life, and this a leadership style that I will continue in my professional career. I also possess strong writing skills, a passion for learning new technologies, and a drive to do any task that I am assigned with to the best of my ability.
What I Do
Services
Software Development
Using critical thinking and problem solving skills to produce high quality software solutions to complex, real-world problems.
Web Design
Making beautiful and responsive websites for any service or company.
Android Development
Developing useful and secure apps for Android mobile devices.
Databases
Creating and managing databases using systems such as MySQL or Cloud Firestore.
Data Visualization
Converting raw data into meaningful and visually-appealing representations of information.
Machine Learning
Leveraging machine learning libraries to create powerful models for solving real-word problems.
Projects
Technical Projects
in Android Mobile Dev
Git Trailblazer
Git Trailblazer is a social platform that enables users to find and explore interesting GitHub repositories and beginner-friendly issues of open source projects. Users can find all kinds of interesting information about repositories, including the repository owner, name, description, README.md file, and recent contributors/commits. Since one of the goals of Git Trailblazer is to help junior developers find beginner-friendly issues of open-source projects, Git Trailblazer also presents users with issue-related details, such as the issue number, description, and time since the issue was posted. Users can also star and fork repositories of their interest as they navigate throughout the app. Some of the other social features that are supported by Git Trailblazer include upvotes, downvotes, comments, and easily sharing repository data with friends through a variety of external applications (e.g., email or text message).
More Info| Languages | Java |
|---|---|
| Libraries |
GitHub GraphQL API Google Firebase API |
| Links |
Google Play GitHub Repo Video Download Design Doc |
in Data Viz/Web Dev
PuckSmart
A popular trend among professional sports organizations is the adoption and integration of sports analytics into daily team operations. When properly applied, sports analytics can improve the decision making process of a team, and combining these statistical methodologies with dynamic visualizations can help analysts gain comprehensive insights into games. This work presents PuckSmart: a Web interface for visualizing spatiotemporal data and analytics of ice hockey games. PuckSmart converts spatiotemporal game data and analytics into meaningful visualizations of information, and the initial prototype features two different views of data. One view provides a visual summary of the key events of a hockey game, while the other view presents a novel spatiotemporal design for simulating games and dynamically visualizing their key events and analytics metrics.
More Info| Languages | HTML/CSS/JavaScript |
|---|---|
| Libraries | D3.js |
| Links |
GitHub Repo Live Demo Download Research Paper |
in Machine Learning
Sentiment Analysis: Tweets & IMDB Movie Reviews
Sentiment analysis is an important task of natural language processing (NLP) that aims to assign quantitative sentiment values to documents of text. This research uses the Python scikit-learn library to implement and analyze the effectiveness of Multinomial Naive Bayes (MNB), Support Vector Machines (SVM), and Logistic Regression (LR) text classifiers. The goal is to determine which of the three models is most effective at classifying text sentiment (positive or negative). Two experiments are conducted to test each model using two real-world datasets (tweets and IMDB movie reviews). Precision, recall, and F-measure is calculated for each model, and the results show that SVM had the highest effectiveness scores for both datasets. Moreover, the MNB, SVM, and LR models achieve higher scores when classifying sentiment in movie reviews, as opposed to tweets.
More Info| Languages | Python |
|---|---|
| Libraries | Scikit-learn |
| Links |
GitHub Repo Download Research Paper |
in Data Viz/Web Dev/Machine Learning
COMPASS Vision
COMPASS Vision is a project that is based on data collected from the COMPASS system, a research platform for evaluating natural experiments and generating practice-based evidence in school-based prevention. In COMPASS research, student participants are asked about aspects of their personal health behaviour such as substance use, physical activity, and mental health via anonymous, annual questionnaires. COMPASS Vision aims to combine the powers of machine learning and data visualization to create an evidence-based platform for exploring important COMPASS student health factors. Due to privacy concerns and the nature of sensitive student health data, I am unable to share the source code on GitHub. However, you can find a link to the project deign document below.
More Info| Languages |
HTML/CSS/JavaScript Python |
|---|---|
| Libraries |
Google Maps API Google Charts API MarkerClustererPlus Apache Spark |
| Links | Download Design Doc |
in Video Game Dev
AsteroidsJS
AsteroidsJS is a JavaScript rendition of the popular Atari Asteroids arcade game. Players use the keyboard to control a spaceship, dodge asteroids, and fire lasers to destroy the asteroids. With each incresing level, more and more asteroids begin to appear on the screen, which adds to the difficulty of the game. Players are rewarded with points for each asteroid that they destroy, and the goal of the game is to obtain as many points as possible before losing all three lives. Local high scores are also recorded, so players can continuously strive to beat their best scores! If you want to try the live demo, you can move the spaceship using the arrow keys and fire lasers using the spacebar. NOTE: The live demo is not supported on mobile devices since it requires a keyboard.
More Info| Languages | HTML/CSS/JavaScript |
|---|---|
| Libraries | None |
| Links |
GitHub Repo Live Demo |
in Video Game Dev
Checkers++
Checkers++ is a console-based version of the classic checkers board game. This game is designed for two players to play while sitting at the same computer. While taking turns, players use the keyboard to move their respective pieces across the board. The game is finished when one player captures all of their opponent's pieces. Similar to the classic board game, Checkers++ supports chain captures and "kinging". Checkers++ also records player stats (i.e., wins, losses, and win-loss ratio), and these can be accessed via the main menu. The primary focus of this project was to apply object oriented design priniciples to development of a basic video game. More information can be found in the design document (listed below).
More Info| Languages | C++ |
|---|---|
| Libraries | None |
| Links |
GitHub Repo Download Design Document |
Research Projects
in Software Engineering
Investigating the Effectiveness of Pair Programming in Industrial Domains: A Systematic Literature Review
This research presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of empirical studies that focus on the effectiveness of pair programming (PP) in industrial domains. The primary objective of the SLR is to present the current research and evidence relative to the effectiveness of PP when applied in industry. The SLR also recognizes how PP effectiveness is measured, the degree of effectiveness that PP has in industrial domains, and factors that impact the effectiveness of PP. This study is based on a comprehensive review of a set of 33 research papers that have been extracted from five major online databases. The SLR highlights six measurements of PP effectiveness (e.g., software quality, knowledge transfer, productivity, effort, job satisfaction, and project cost) and five key factors that can influence PP effectiveness (e.g., expertise level, personality, task complexity, driver-navigator interactions, and work environment). The results suggest a general agreement that when applied appropriately, PP can increase software quality and knowledge transfer. Moreover, the evidence suggests that PP is most effective when used for high-complexity tasks and pairs are composed of individuals with complementary skills, personalities, and knowledge areas. Recommendations for practitioners include viewing PP as an investment into better software quality, using PP strategically, and adopting a team-oriented culture.
More Info| Links | Download Research Paper |
|---|
in Software Engineering
Investigating the Usefulness of Formal Methods for Developing Industrial Software Systems: A Systematic Literature Review
The objective of this paper is to present the current evidence relative to the usefulness of formal methods (FMs) for developing industrial software systems. As such insight is important for project managers of software development firms, this work presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of empirical studies that investigate if applying FMs and tools to the software development process of industrial computing applications can be useful. The SLR synthesizes evidence from 12 primary studies and analyzes how useful FMs are when applied by professionals in industry. The results of the SLR suggest that FMs are useful in a wide range of domains when applied to the development process of safety-critical systems. Using FMs and tools can lead to a lower defect rate, less ambiguity in system specifications, and a shorter time to market. Non-experts benefit from user-friendly FM tools, but the main drawback of FMs is the initial learning time required to learn a method or tool.
More Info| Links | Download Research Paper |
|---|
in Computer Networks & Security
A Survey of Botnets and the Threats they Pose to the Cyber Landscape
The cyber landscape is a dynamically evolving environment that provides users with a powerful platform for rapid communication and information sharing. However, various forms of network attacks, such as botnets, can disrupt this service and pose serious threats to cybersecurity. A botnet is a network of compromised devices that can perform a variety of large-scale illegal activities, including Distributed Denial of Service attacks, click fraud, data theft, spam, and social media manipulation. The network architectures and technologies that compose different botnets vary from case to case, and there are many motivations for using a botnet in a cyberattack. Similar to legitimate corporations, a successful botnet operation follows a highly-structured business model to help maximize revenue. As technology evolves, botnets will continue to show increasing levels of anonymity and sophistication, making them difficult to detect and disable. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of different botnet attacks, architectures, detection mechanisms, trends, and the business model behind a botnet. The aim of this paper is to provide readers with a view on botnets from both economic and technical perspectives, present relevant examples, and raise awareness about the threats posed by botnets.
More Info| Links | Download Research Paper |
|---|
Hobbies
Hobbies
Hockey
Although I am retired from my days of playing competitive hockey, the passion for the game has not left my body. I still enjoy getting together with a group of friends and heading to the rink for some pick-up games of hockey. Being on the ice puts me in a relaxed state of mind where I can forget about life for a couple hours and focus on having fun. Hockey has played a major role in the first 20+ years of my life, and I'm excited to keep playing the game I love for as long as my body allows for it!
Golf
One of my favorite joys in life is playing a round of golf with my friends. I started playing golf around six years ago, and I love this sport because it is fun, competitive, humbling, and always leaves me thinking that I can get better the next time I go out for a round. On top of that, golf allows me enjoy the beautiful weather and scenic views of the course. Being on the golf course puts me in a happy state of mind, and I can definitely see myself playing this game for the rest of my life!
Piano
When I'm not on the ice or playing a round of golf, I like to take a break from physical activity by playing the piano. I've been playing piano for over twelve years of my life, and every song that I know how to play has been self-taught. I enjoy all genres of music, and there's no better feeling than hearing an awesome tune on the radio for the first time and learning to play it on the piano. The fact that my music can also be a form of entertainment for my family and friends is just an added bonus to this awesome hobby!
References
My References
Name: Brian Bourque
Title: University of Waterloo Men's Hockey Head Coach and Associate Director (CIF Arena)
Email: bbourque@uwaterloo.ca
Name: Ben Fanelli
Title: Creative Director at Heroic Minds and University of Waterloo Men's Hockey Associate Coach
Email: benfanelli@uwaterloo.ca
Name: Stephane Lajoie
Title: Principal at Ecole Primaire Sainte-Marie and Academic Advisor at Shawinigan Cataractes Hockey Club (QMJHL)
Email: stlajoie@csenergie.qc.ca