David Athersych ("Dave") has combined a background in electrical engineering and computer science to build a career developing and teaching computer systems software. Most of his software has been close to the hardware - operating systems, device drivers and network software. When he has developed applications, it has been to sort rocks; cook food; analyse blood; package food, medical supplies and raw materials for manufactured products; provide services to telecommunications devices; help mine staff locate ore; etc. Many of Dave's projects have had user interfaces consisting of only one or two buttons (real buttons, not buttons on a screen), and maybe an LED or two to indicate status. He has used this background to teach many college and university students and to mentor employees and colleagues along the way.
Dave has been involved as founder of three software development companies. Besides actively working on software development, he has been a key member of the management team at these companies, variously holding positions as CFO and CEO of these firms. He has served as an advisor for several other start-up high-tech companies.
Dave graduated from Queen's University with a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and an M.Sc. in Computer Science. He worked towards an MBA at Queen's while actively running his second software company. He completed the coursework for his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering just before founding his third software company.
Dave has taught for many years at St. Lawrence College in Kingston. He started as a member of the team that set up the Computer Engineering program, and eventually taught almost every course in the program. When the College shut down its programs in Electronics and Computer Engineering, Dave moved to the Energy Systems program, teaching project management, computer applications and electrical circuits.
Dave also instructed for five years in Queen's Electrical Engineering program - a fourth-year course in Computer Networks and second/third year courses in computer architecture and interfacing.