J Carter Matheney Tiernan

Between 1992 and 2001, my full-time job was working for Project SEED, a national mathematics organization. I taught high school and college mathematics to elementary school children, provided professional training for educators, and worked as part of the management of Project SEED in Dallas and nationally. Project SEED closed in 2016 after over 50 years of providing really amazing teaching and training.

Before Project SEED, I was at ARRI at UTA for two years finishing my doctorate. I was enticed into this by Dr. Karan Harbison whom I met while I worked at Texas Instruments. While at TI, from 1983 to 1990, I worked on software design for electro-optics systems, on artificial intelligence multi-agent jet fighter pilot associates, and this and that.

I came to Texas Instruments directly after finishing my BACS at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (the REAL UT.) During my time at TI, I completed an MSCS at the University of Texas at Dallas. I began my PhD while at TI and finished the degree while working as a faculty associate at ARRI. All the gory details of these things can be found in my CV linked to the image of the daruma below. The daruma is a Japanese image, typically an actual mask or statue, which has large eyes with no pupils. When a significant project begins, one eye pupil of the daruma is colored in. The other pupil is added when the project is complete. The one-eyed state reminds one to continue to persevere on the project at hand. In my case, there is one eye pupil colored in as I begin here at UTA.

Professional Interests

• Engineering education
• Computers as components of elementary and secondary education
  • Students learning from computers [true educational instructors in a variety of subjects]
  • Students learning to use computers as tools [analogous to "driver education" classes for learning about cars]
  • Students learning to control computers through programming [analogous to "automotive and mechanical" courses for learning about cars]
• Intelligent systems
• Heterogeneous multi-agent planning systems
• Software engineering
• Artificial intelligence
  • Expert systems
  • Robotics

Personal Info
In addition to all the serious stuff above, I have one or two personal interests as well. I am an avid reader of science fiction and mysteries and have a half-written mystery novel on my computer (it's been half-written for a very long time now...). I do intend to finish writing it. I am a jewelry craftsman and enjoy all kinds of design projects - such as the logo for the CSE@UTA Robot Programming Contest. I also sing. (I sang the National Anthem and Alma Mater at College of Engineering graduations for a number of years.) I inherit whatever talent I do have from my extremely talented mother who was an artist in pastels, acrylics and oil and a singer and who I miss every day. If you come by my office you can see some of her artwork (and my grandmother's!) on the walls. In case you're wondering, yes, I did draw the little green frog but, no, I did not draw either of the two little cartoons that I use of myself on this page. Both of them were drawn by students that I taught in Project SEED. I am especially fond of the little crazy muppet head cartoon of me.

Last but not least, I am NEWLY married (2016) to John Jeffries, have 3 cats and 1 dog (pictures will be here eventually), but no children. The cats are Erte, Cassat, and Smidgen. The dog Buddy. I have a married brother in Nashville, TN (Jay with his husband Tim) and one sister in LA, CA with the rest of my family (father and stepmother, cousins, etc.) in and around Nashville, TN, my hometown. I have 4 initials and I use them all. Anything else you want to know, you have to ask me in person.

Curriculum Vitae	Dr. Tiernan's UTA page