I have 10 years of experience in high energy particle physics at CERN, Switzerland, University of Helsinki, Finland, and Argonne National Laboratory, USA; followed by 25 years in the corporate world at Nokia (formerly AT&T) Bell Labs , USA, Motorola (Cellular Division) , and a successful start-up company in Florida, USA. The corporate experiences included project management, software engineering, and senior and executive management. I have worked closely with System Dynamics consultants trained at MIT to help control the delivery and staffing over-runs for a large software project. This generated the idea that a deterministic theory of decisions could apply not only to software projects but more generally to any field of human endeavor in which decisions play a significant role. The key was to tie this idea to a theoretical foundation, which experience in particle physics provided. These ideas have been expanded in four books. I have spent the last 18 years at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, teaching a variety of courses including ones explaining these new ideas.
For further details on my background see:
- Academic and Corporate Resume: Thomas, Gerald 2024.