Joseph Starr, PhD

[email protected] joe-starr.com Joecstarr joseph-c-starr
Embedded software engineer with professional experience in automotive systems including AUTOSAR Classic, MCAL, and bootloader development. PhD in Mathematics with a record of applying mathematical rigor to software design processes. Proficient in C, C++, and Python, with hands-on experience across the full ASPICE V-model lifecycle, CI/CD infrastructure, and cross-platform library development.

Education

University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics; Master of Science in Mathematics
Fall 2021 - Fall 2025
University of Michigan - Dearborn
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science; Bachelor of Science in CIS Mathematics
Fall 2013 - Fall 2016

Experience

Mathematics Teaching Assistant / Iowa Sciences Academy Teaching Assistant / Research Fellow
University of Iowa
Aug 2021 - May 2025
  • Conducted original mathematics research. Partially funded by NSF RTG grant DMS-2038103.
  • Conducted original education research.
  • Developed and taught undergraduate science communication courses as the instructor of record.
  • Taught undergraduate mathematics courses as the instructor of record.
  • Taught undergraduate and graduate mathematics courses as a Teaching Assistant in a coordinated classroom.
Software Engineer
Western Diversified Plastics
Dec 2020 - Aug 2021
  • Analyzed and clarified customer (OEM) requirements to align development scope with system specifications.
  • Led prototyping and kickoff activities for next-generation Traveo II hardware, ensuring a seamless transition between product versions.
  • Evaluated development infrastructure including build systems and IDEs, and sourced project-specific AUTOSAR and bootloader stacks (MICROSAR).
  • Developed a hardware proofing software stack to validate prototype hardware against system requirements, reducing future MCAL configuration and integration load.
  • Engineered ASPICE-compliant tooling to automate parsing of OEM requirements into Enterprise Architect with full SWE process traceability, reducing manual parsing overhead to near zero.
  • Built a modular declarative Jenkins toolchain supporting both physical hardware and virtual ECU testing environments, enabling quality gates to be validated locally and reducing excess HIL load.
Project Engineer
Vector North America
Jan 2017 - Nov 2020
  • Served as developer and eventual technical lead for a MICROSAR-powered power distribution box (RL78).
  • Managed the full ASPICE V-model lifecycle, from translating OEM requirements into software architecture and design using Enterprise Architect to final implementation in C, DaVinci Configurator, and DaVinci Developer.
  • Conducted code and design reviews, led sprint kickoffs and retrospectives, and oversaw all technical development efforts.
  • Defined Jenkins and CANoe CI/CD infrastructure with project-specific quality gates to automate the qualification and creation of software releases, reducing regression and release process load while increasing project stability and velocity.

Projects

Dissertation Research: The Tanglenomicon
  • Enumerated a new class of knot-theoretic objects (arborescent tangles) by identifying a unique representative and proving the correctness of abstract algorithms for their enumeration.
  • Developed a multiplatform (JavaScript/WASM, Python/Cython, and C++ wrappers) modular C library collection for generating large-scale tangle datasets, successfully tabulating tangles up to 19 crossings (~5.2 billion tangles).
  • Designed and implemented a formal software design process bridging mathematical research with software development life cycles, including rigorous validation and design activities.

Skills

Languages
C, C++, Python, C#, JavaScript, CAPL,
Standards
AUTOSAR (classic), ISO 26262, ASPICE,
Hardware and Protocols
Renesas RL78, Infineon Traveo II, Infineon TriCore TC2xx/TC3xx, Infineon TLE9471, NXP TJA1145A, SPI, CAN, CAN FD, Ethernet, MQTT, CMake,
Frameworks
Vector MICROSAR Classic, Vector Flash Bootloader, Cython, Emscripten, CMake, FastAPI, React, Faktory,
Tooling
Vector CANoe, Vector DaVinci Configurator, Vector DaVinci Developer, Vector vTESTstudio, Vector VectorCAST, Vector vVIRTUALtarget, Enterprise Architect, Jenkins (CI/CD), GitHub (CI/CD), GitHub (Project Management), Git, SVN, JIRA, EB Tresos Studio, iSYSTEM winIDEA, IAR Embedded Workbench, Neovim, Visual Studio,