Hi! I’m Troy McConaghy.

My interests include science & technology, programming (computers), writing, outer space, visualization, history, simulation, virtual worlds, mathematics, hiking and science fiction.

In the 1990s, I studied physics and applied mathematics at the University of Saskatchewan. I also went to the Summer Session Program of the International Space University.

In the 2000s, I did a Masters and PhD in dynamics, control theory, and space exploration at Purdue University. There are more details on my Formal Education page.

During those years, I had jobs working with the Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory, the Defence Research Establishment Ottawa, COM DEV, Kingston’s Defence Operations Research group, and Analog Design Automation. My grad school research was funded by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). I also taught some university-level math courses at Purdue.

After Purdue, I spend many years doing science-related projects in the virtual world Second Life (SL) and on the web. My clients included the UK’s National Physical Laboratory, the University of Denver, and NIST (the US National Institute of Standards and Technology). There are more details on my SL Projects page.

Current Projects

These days, I’m mainly doing freelance scripting/coding, particularly real-time simulation. I’m also whittling away at another degree (this one in CS) from Simon Fraser University.

One of my side projects is MobileChameleon.com, a website about tools that can be used to develop apps for Android, iOS and other mobile operating systems, using one code base.

I sometimes write articles for Outer Spacing, a blog about space exploration and development at SciLogs.com, which is a collection of blogs presented by Spektrum der Wissenschaft (the German edition of Scientific American) in association with nature.com.

Personal Life

I grew up on a farm near Beatty, Saskatchewan.

Some of my biggest early influences were my first computer (a TRS-80), some great teachers, the library, and lots of time spent outdoors.

Some of my relatives also have websites.