David Archer is Chief Operating Officer of the Petrotechnical Open Software Corporation (POSC) in Houston, Texas. POSC is an international, not-for-profit organization which was founded in 1990 to develop data and technical computing standards for the Exploration and Production (E&P) segment of the oil industry. POSC standards help the oil industry deal with problems of integrating and sharing data over the life-cycle of E&P assets. David is a member of POSC's management team; he also leads the organization's technical staff, and he frequently represents POSC to its customers and to other standards bodies. Prior to joining POSC in September, David was Executive Vice President for Interactive Network Technologies (INT), where he was primarily responsible for sales and marketing of graphical user interface (GUI) software development tool kits which are used in application programs by oil companies, Wall Street firms and the national labs. As part of his job with INT, David worked directly with buyers and end-users and, to a lesser extent, he was involved in specification of the software.
Although his current position does not draw extensively on his background as a mathematical scientist, he sees it as an outgrowth of his almost 20 years of working in industry. After teaching mathematics for five years , David began his career in industry when he joined DREM (now Stoner Associates) where he applied his numerical analysis training to develop software applications for simulating fluid flow in pipeline systems. After several years at DREM, he then moved to Western Atlas Software where he developed and managed the development of a number of software systems. It was during this period that he made the transition from a technical developer to a technical leader; while his initial tasks at Western were essentially one-person efforts, his last job at Western involved building and leading a team of approximately 30 software professionals.
David has a Ph.D. and M.A. in mathematical sciences from Rice University, and a B.S. in mathematics from Texas Christian University. He began working on computing projects as an undergraduate, and he also worked for Exxon Production Research for a summer while in graduate school. His career as a professor of mathematics included three years at the Naval Postgraduate School followed by two years at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. While his original plan had been to follow an academic career path, when he got the opportunity to join a small, dynamic software company (DREM), he didn't hesitate to make the move to industry; his interest in this non-academic position was not diminished by a substantial increase in pay!
His experience in industry has shown him that a broad mathematical background is very helpful, and that training in building and using mathematical models is indispensable. He also thinks that internships or summer work before acceptance of an industrial position benefits both the company and the potential employee. In addition, he has found that a job in industry requires much more than skills in the sciences. Increasingly, today's work involves team efforts, and technical professionals must be sensitive and responsive to the needs of their customers and coworkers. He has had to develop good communication skills since he is often called on to communicate with both scientists and non-scientists who are involved in industrial projects.
If students are interested in working in industry, David encourages them to begin networking before graduation by attending professional meetings and by making contact with both academic and industrial scientists working in their areas of interest.
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