Professional Summary

Stephen's professional endeavors are founded on a life dedicated to public service.

Throughout his varied careers, Stephen has studied everything from mosquitoes and disease biology to bloodstain patterns, bullet trajectories, and digging up clandestine graves.

Today—through innovative, collaborative communication and technology solutions—he works to foster better leadership in the forensics industry and to support and improve the lives of people diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
 

Projects

  • Web Development
    Front-End Web Development

    Stephen's Ledger

    Stephen's Ledger

    Growing up, Stephen learned Turbo Pascal and BASIC. In high school, he taught himself HTML, took classes in C++, and helped the Programming Club design and code the school's first website. In his spare time, he developed a game for the TI-85 calculator inspired by horse racing, where players place bets on which mathematical symbol they think will "win" the race.

    His first personal website—which detailed starship specifications and histories from Star Trek—was hosted by GeoCities, one of the first widely available platforms offering free website creation and hosting in the 1990s.

    In college, Stephen took additional courses in JavaScript and has continued to work on personal web development projects ever since. While serving as Lead Webmaster for the California Association of Criminalists, he overhauled the organization's website for more effective and attractive visitor engagement and communication.

    Development

    • I use VS Code as my text editor, with Tokyo Night theme and Fira Code and Operator Mono as the base typefaces.
    • Chrome is my main browser, with Firefox as my secondary.
    • I'm currently learning React for my front-end JavaScript library. I'd like to get into the mindset of the component-centric model for UI/UX design.
    • In a similar vein, I'll be learning Motion for JavaScript animations, complementing React.
    • For CSS, Less, SCSS, and other pre-compiling, I use Prepros.

    System

    Component Specifications
    Desktop Custom built in 2020
    OS Windows 11 Pro
    CASE Fractal Design Meshify C Black ATX High-Airflow Compact Light Tint Tempered Glass Mid Tower Computer Case, FD-CA-MESH-C-BKO-TGL
    RAM G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 64GB (4 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Intel XMP 2.0 Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C16Q-64GVK
    CPU Intel Core i7-10700K Comet Lake 8-Core 3.8 GHz LGA 1200 125W Desktop Processor w/ Intel UHD Graphics 630
    MOBO ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4/2.5G LGA 1200 Intel Z490 SATA 6Gb/s ATX Intel Motherboard
    GFX EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 FTW3 ULTRA GAMING, 08G-P5-3767-KR, 8GB GDDR6, iCX3 Technology, ARGB LED, Metal Backplate
    HDD WD_Black SN750 1TB NVMe Internal Gaming SSD - Gen3 PCIe, M.2 2280, 3D NAND - WDS100T3X0C
    HDD Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD - CT1000MX500SSD1(Z)
    PSU EVGA SuperNOVA 650 Ga, 80 Plus Gold 650W, Fully Modular, ECO Mode with Dbb Fan, 10 Year Warranty, Compact 150mm Size, Power Supply 220-GA-0650-X1
    NIC TP-Link WiFi 6 AX3000 PCIe WiFi Card w/ External Antenna
    COOLING Cooler Master MasterLiquid LC240E RGB Close-Loop AIO CPU Liquid Cooler, 240mm Radiator, Dual Chamber RGB Pump, Dual MF120R RGB Fans, RGB Lighting for AMD Ryzen/Intel LGA1200/1151
    COOLING Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound Paste 3.5g
    NAS Synology DS218+ DiskStation 2-Bay NAS System w/ 2x WD Red Plus Internal NAS HDD 3.5" - 4TB in Synology Hybrid RAID

  • Music & Production
    classical pianist-turned-amateur electronic music producer

    SJL Productions

    Stephen's SoundCloud

    "My focus is on music composition, mixing, and production. I create music I enjoy listening to endlessly in the hopes that others would find the same enjoyment."

    Stephen uses counter-melodies as a significant aspect of his music.

    He grew up playing the piano and violin, performing in his school's orchestra, and performing as a solo musician. He was a member of the Tucson Junior Strings Orchestral Training Program and performed in the Tucson Music Teachers Association's Annual Piano Ensemble.

    In November 1997, Stephen won 1st place in the Music Teachers National Association Arizona State Division Competition in Composition for his piano piece, Broken Senses.

    Stephen now enjoys electronic music composition and production in his spare time.

    Production

    • For instrumentation, I have a Yamaha U1 upright piano, an Epiphone by Gibson Les Paul Model Cherry Sunburst electric guitar, and an Epiphone PR 350 acoustic guitar.
    • My main amplifier is a 38W Fender Frontman Reverb Amp.
    • For electronic instrumentation, I use a Novation Impulse 61, Novation Launchpad X, and a Novation Launchkey Mini.
    • To integrate all this together, I use an M-Audio AIR 192 | 8 Audio MIDI Interface.
    • For time-keeping, I use a Soundbrenner Pulse wrist metronome.
    • I utilize Splice for royalty-free, pre-generated sampling, loops, and presets (I let the professionals do the sound engineering).
    • For fine sound editing, I use Audacity. I'm currently exploring ACE Studio to include vocals in my music, which would be amazing.
    • Finally, my DAW of choice is Ableton Live 11.