Karen E Stevens KarenEStevens@AT@live.com
January 15, 2017

Work History

EA Sports

Full-time Software Engineer, 6/2013 - Present

Published Work / External Releases
  • Games: Madden NFL 25, Madden NFL 15, Madden NFL 16, Madden NFL 17
  • GDC 2017 Lecture: Game Accessibility: Practical Visual Fixes from EA's 'Madden NFL' Franchise
  • Pending Patent: Systems and Methods for Automated Image Processing For Images with Similar Luminosities
Roles and Responsibilities
  • Accessibility features, product owner & developer, including colorblind support
  • Gathers and processes feedback from AccessibilityFeedback@ea.com and twitter.com/ea_accessible
  • Augmented UI Cross-team architecture effort, bringing together presentation, UI, and graphics.
  • Ownership of graphics disk space usage, graphics memory & creator of related tracking tools
  • Variety of shader work, significant contribution to skin, monoliths, banners, MUT cards
  • Improved pipeline for importing game assets
  • Patch ownership, provided code support for patch head workflow
  • Creation of graphics performance monitoring tools

Microsoft Corporation

Full-time Software Engineer, 5/2005 - 4/2013

Published Work / External Releases
  • Game: Project Spark: Game for Xbox One, Windows 8.1, Xbox 360
  • Games, Windows 7 Inbox : Minesweeper, Solitaire, Hearts, Spider Solitaire, FreeCell, Chess Titans, Mahjong Titans, Purble Place, Internet Spades, Internet Checkers, Internet Backgammon
  • DirectX: PIX Game Debugging DirectX sample and whitepaper, PIX for Windows
  • Xbox Development Kit: PIX, xbPerfView, Xbox Platform API
  • Xbox.com: 3D Xbox Avatar software rasterizer, used in the web Avatar Editor and related server-side renderer
  • Games for Windows Live: Installer, Platform Update, & Web Marketplace
  • Granted Patent 2012: Real-Time Game Performance Analysis Patent
  • Granted Patent 2010: Audio Sub-band Processing and Comparison Patent
  • Gamefest Lecture 2008: Performance Tools Update
  • GDC Lecture 2008: Beyond Printf: Debugging Games through Tools
Roles and Responsibilities
  • Tech lead for multi-platform Xbox Avatar development, including web and mobile
    • Led international team, worked with local teams for large-scale cross-team collaboration
    • Specified overall architecture and interfaces, along with user requirements
    • Worked on sections of the software 3D rasterizer and avatar file parsing code
    • Created custom avatar clothing in Maya for verification/development teams to use
  • Tech lead for all 11 games that shipped with Windows 7
    • Participated in full lifecycle from conception to sustained engineering
    • Created team work / feature schedule, took part in feature requirement creation
    • Implemented majority of DirectX UI; also worked on game play, touch, accessibility
    • Orchestrated both cross-team and international collaboration
  • Tech lead for Games for Windows LIVE features
    • Ownership of both design and project management aspects
    • Ported multiple years of Xbox code slices to the PC
  • Game Developer, Project Spark
    • Graphics developer, focusing on particle effects, materials, lighting
    • Character work, including facial features and clothing system
    • Content pipeline tools support, Maya, 3ds Max, Granny, Havok
    • Placeholder artist; creating meshes, characters, animations, particle systems, skyboxes, icons, materials
  • Miscellaneous projects
    • Xbox platform code development for Kinect-enabled dashboard
    • Created DirectX shippable samples, including a performance tools tutorial
    • Created new/updated PIX for Windows DirectX Shimming detours, updates for Visual Studio
    • Created display driver certification display property optimization tool
    • Key contributor in Xbox Dr. PIX performance tool design, resulting in patent

Guidant Corporation

Full-time Software Engineer, 6/2003 - 4/2005
  • Tool development for implantable medical devices; implemented GUI, audio, printed reports, code generation
Full-time Software Engineer Intern, Summers 2000, 2001, 2002
  • Congestive heart failure maintenance feature set development & platform/language feasibility study

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University

Guidant Lab Student Researcher, 9/2002 - 4/2003, 9/2001 - 4/2002
  • Software architecture assessment pattern research & automatic code generation research
  • Published: Knowledge-Centered Safety Critical Software Architectural Assessment Patterns, Journal of Systems and Software Volume 73, Issue 2, October 2004, Pages 313-322

Michigan Technological University

Student Worker, 2/1998-5/1998, 9/1998-5/2000, 9/2000-5/2001
  • Computer science department teaching assistant, tutor, and grader

Knowledge and Skills

Education

  • Master Software Engineering, May 2003, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, GPA 4.00
  • B.S. Computer Science, May 2001, Michigan Technological University, GPA 3.92
  • BCC Completion Certificate, Summer 2010, Maya 3D Animation for Games and Movies

Recent Computer Skills

  • Languages: C/C++, C#, Python, Perl, HLSL, MEL, UML, XML, SQL, JScript, VB, WebGL
  • API: DirectX 9/10/11/12, Xbox 360, XB1, PS4, Win32, STL, GFWL, MFC, .NET
  • Tools: PIX, Photoshop, Visual Studio, Project, xbPerfView, Razor, Maya, Havok, Granny