John R. Nicol is a senior technology strategist with Avaya's Chief Technology Office.  He received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Lancaster University, England in 1987, and a B.Sc. (with first class honors) in Computer Science from Strathclyde University, Scotland in 1983.  Before joining Avaya he was a Director of Technology with the Video Products Group at NMS Communications in Framingham, MA and, prior to that, was Chief Technology Officer of InfoLibria in Waltham, MA.  Dr. Nicol also spent a decade with GTE Laboratories conducting research in the area of broadband multimedia applications.  Early in his career, he was a tenured professor of Computer Science at Lancaster University, England.  He is a senior member of the IEEE and has served as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Multimedia since 1999.  Dr. Nicol holds US patents in the area of multimedia presentation techniques.

David Asher is currently the Director of Product Management for Data Protection at Iron Mountain Digital.  He received an MBA degree from the University of New Hampshire Whittemore School, MS in Electrical Engineering at SUNY Stony Brook, and BS in Physics and Computer Science from SUNY Albany.  In his most recent position as Director of Product Management at NMS Communications, he led the effort to market a media server for interactive multimedia communications.  Throughout his career, Mr. Asher has been  involved in the business and technology development for a wide range of commercial software projects: telecom equipment for interactive voice applications; subscription website for bond information; web-based email gateway for enterprise users; network operating system; embedded BIOS and power management software; pointing devices; musical instruments; and image processing for space-based surveillance.  Mr. Asher holds several patents in analog circuits and touch sensors, and in his spare time is building a theremin.

Teaching Assistant

Jesse Craig is a staff engineer in IBM's Systems and Technology Group on Academic Leave to pursue his Doctorate at Tufts University.  He received his MS in Computer Science from the University of Vermont and his BS in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  At IBM, Mr. Craig specializes in deep sub-micron processor design and enablement.  At Tufts, he works in the CAD and VLSI research group under the direction of Dr. Hassoun.  Mr. Craig holds patents in the fields of computer architecture, storage, and hardware verification.