Mike Travers

Independent consultant specializing in scientific software development, knowledge management, AI applications, visualization, and human-computer interaction.

I develop systems for scientific and medical computation with complex knowledge management requirements, working at the intersection of programming tools, knowledge representation, and user interface design.

Expertise & Services

Scientific Software Development

Custom software for research workflows, data analysis pipelines, and scientific computing. Experience with genomics, bioinformatics, and medical computation.

Knowledge Management Systems

Ontologies, graph databases, and semantic systems for organizing and querying complex scientific and medical data. Expert in Datomic, RDF, and knowledge representation.

Programming Tools & Languages

Development of programming environments, visual programming interfaces, and domain-specific languages. Deep expertise in Lisp languages (Common Lisp, Clojure).

Data Visualization & UI Design

Creating intuitive interfaces for complex data and scientific workflows. Experience with d3.js, interactive visualizations, and user-centered design.

AI & Machine Learning Applications

Integrating AI capabilities into research and medical workflows, with focus on practical applications in knowledge extraction and data analysis.

Technical Architecture & Leadership

System architecture, technical team leadership, and strategic planning for complex software projects in research and healthcare domains.

Selected Projects

BRUCE

data portal for brain cancer research

Data portal for BRUCE project - BRain tUmor heterogeneity deCiphEred by high dimensional multiomic analysis.

Site

Enflame

visual query builder

A Scratch-like visual query builder for scientific graph knowledge bases. Core components released as the open-source Blockoid library.

Presentation GitHub

Alzabo

schema management tool

Ontology management tool and documentation generator for graph databases

Live GitHub

SmartTables

semantic spreadsheet

A semantic spreadsheet system for bioinformatics, deployed in production at BioCyc for biological research data management.

Live Publication

Goddinpotty

digital garden framework

A tool to generate static sites (personal wikis or digital gardens) from Logseq or other graph-based knowledge managers.

Documentation & Example GitHub

Librium

browser extension

Easy access to scientific literature via Sci-Hub

GitHub

Earlier work

Portfolio of older user interface work

Background

I have extensive experience developing systems for scientific and medical computation, with a particular focus on knowledge management challenges that require innovative software solutions.

My research and development work spans programming language design, user interface innovation, and practical applications in computational biology and scientific computing. I'm interested in tools that make programming more expressive and accessible—for children, scientists, and others working with complex data.

I work primarily in Lisp languages because they offer the best foundation for creating flexible, expressive systems that bridge the gap between human thinking and computational power.

Resume; (pdf)

Publications

Education

PhD, Media Arts and Sciences
MIT Media Laboratory, 1996

Dissertation: "Programming with Agents: New metaphors for thinking about computation"

S.B., Mathematics
MIT, 1986

Contact