Ken Taylor spends his time learning—about the 20th century, architecture, medicine and space. He spends his time teaching—since 2013, he’s given over 100 lectures at the university. He’s passionate about inventing and his 60+ patents speak to that. And as a father and cloud architect, he’s constantly improving upon items and systems to improve the lives of others.
Ken believes that “technology needs to be easier.” Perhaps this is why he spends much of his time too as a cloud architect for Technology Services—he makes it easier for others to use cloud services in the best possible way.
What do you do at Tech Services?
I started as a cloud architect at Tech Services in 2020, near the start of COVID. My job can be summarized as: a cloud is just a computer in another location, and I help people effectively use that computer. In essence, there are several methods that can allow you to use the cloud in a more cost-efficient way. In a consulting capacity, I often help people migrate their computing needs to the cloud.
What does your role currently look like day-to-day?
It varies so much, so it’s hard to pin it down to specifics. Some emails, some meetings, some projects. The best thing about my current role is working with researchers to use the cloud for their projects.
Outside of my role, I occasionally lecture in various courses on topics from technology to ethics. I also enjoy helping mentor student startup projects.
What do you feel like has been one of your biggest accomplishments in this role and what helped you to succeed in this accomplishment?
During COVID, we needed a solution to handle all the COVID test data we were processing for the campus. In about two and half months, I helped lead the development of the data pipeline in Amazon Web Services. We processed 2.8 million tests, and the data processing for each test cost one quarter of one cent, or about $600 per month. On any given day, we processed 10 to 17 thousand tests.
There were many factors that led to success. It was the immediate necessity to help manage COVID on campus. It was the all-hands-on-deck attitude emphasized by Chancellor Dr. Robert Jones and carried out by everyone working at the University. It was directive given to me by my manager, Mary Stevens, on a Tuesday: “I want a system to handle all of the COVID test data, the system can never go offline and I want it by Friday.” It was my 10+ years of working in the cloud prior to the University.
There wasn’t time to purchase, install and configure a system on the premises. By using Amazon Web Services, we could start prototyping immediately using data generated by the lab on campus producing the test results, all while securely protecting the data. Often, we would meet in the morning to receive new requirements and start working on the implementation in the afternoon. It was an amazing experience working on the project and we should acknowledge not just our development team, but the hundreds (most likely thousands) of people who helped create the entire ecosystem to gather, test and process the results.
One’s one insight about technology you’ve learned over the years?
Technology needs to be easier. I’m continually amazed at how hard it is for most people to use technology. One specific way technology can be easier is its ability to understand text and speech. AI should be able to make the user interface less frustrating for all of us.
I am NOT an expert in...
Medicine, but I wish I was. My son has several health issues and there is always a learning curve when my wife and I need to deal with a new issue. Over the years, we have learned a lot from the doctors, nurses and technicians. It has also allowed us to invent ways to make things easier for our son and ourselves. It’s amazing that you need so much table space to place items that you use in a hospital which leads us to all kinds of questions. Can this be smaller? Can you handle a device with one hand? Where do I store this thing to keep it clean?
What did you study in college or what was your favorite subject in school and why?
Computer Science and Architecture (the one with buildings). Both are puzzles to be solved.
What are some hobbies you have outside of work and why do you like them?
Learning about the history of the 20th century because the 20th century brought about many technological advances. One that interests me: the development of atomic energy.
One story that sticks with me during this time period is how Dr. Richard Feynman would visit other people working in their offices at Los Alamos (the Manhattan Project). While Feynman would talk to people, he would fiddle with the open file cabinet locks (everyone left their file cabinets open during the day) so he learned the combination to everyone’s top secret file cabinet. When someone forgot their combination, Feynman stepped up, hustled everyone out of the room, closed the office door, unlocked the cabinet and proceeded to read a magazine for 30 minutes, upon which he would emerge disheveled declaring he had successfully “broken” into the file cabinet. I told a professor colleague this story once and one day, when someone’s computer didn’t work, he recognized the simple but unknown problem, hustled everyone out of the room, did the easy fix, and then waited 2 minutes before calling everyone back into the office. Everyone was amazed by his skills!
I also love learning about space. Everything about it is incredible. The rocket technology, the astronauts floating around in microgravity, the challenge set forth by President Kennedy, and then being able to watch live video televised by the Apollo astronauts on the moon! Our family had a subscription to Life magazine, which had the exclusive rights to publish stories about the astronauts, and I would read every story. We went from the Wright brothers flying a heavier-than-air machine at Kitty Hawk to landing on the moon in 66 years. That’s amazing.
I also love reading. Music. Architecture. Inventing things.
Fun Facts?
- Since 2010, I’ve given over 100 lectures at the university.
- Back in 2013, I helped design the Statistic department’s Foundations of Big Data course which is still being taught today as Stat 480 – Big Data Analytics.
- I hold 60+ patents.
Most valued skill?
Thinking differently. There is a lot of personal satisfaction when inventing new ways to solve a problem.
Cats or dogs?
Cats.