Dr. Jacob Downs is a new associate professor in computer science at the University of Montana. With a background in machine learning and numerical modeling regarding environmental systems he is excited to engage with SMART FIRES researchers and inspire the next generation of computer scientists.
How did you get into STEM?
I've always been kind of a nerd of one form or another. I started programming pretty young, trying to make my own video games and that kind of got me hooked on programming. I wanted to figure out how to mod them, how to make my own sort of additions to the maps and make custom items. That was a big part of it. I just thought I could do fun things by learning how to program and use computers.
Where did you grow up?
I’ve bounced around Montana. I’m from Helena, but I have lived in the Billings area and am moving to Missoula from Red Lodge.
How did you go from learning to code for video games to being a CS professor?
I took a couple of programming courses in high school because there’s a local college in Billings where I was growing up called Rocky Mountain College. That led into studying computer science in college, and I also developed an interest in math then. I got a master’s degree at the University of Montana and really got into doing research. That research was with Jesse Johnson who is also on the SMART FIRES project. At the time, he was working on glacier modeling. I realized during graduate school that I wanted to keep doing research and doing really technical work.
That led to a PhD in applied math where I worked on modeling sub glacial hydrology to understand the history of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
What are you excited about for SMART FIRES?
There are so many things I could do on SMART FIRES which is exciting. I’ve had some exposure to other people’s work on the project – mostly Jesse Johnson and one of his students. They are working on prediction the spread of contaminants from prescribed burns. They’ve been machine learning approaches for that, which is related to my interests in ML and numerical modeling.
But I’ll have to see where I fit in and complement existing efforts.
Are you looking forward to being a professor?
I had some really good professors in my undergrad courses who got me excited about computer science and math. I’d really like to continue that and present computer science as something that is fun. I want to ignite that same passion.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I like to hike and backpack. And I’ve gotten into rock hounding too, which is going outside and looking for cool rocks.
What are you excited about in regards of moving to Missoula?
Missoula is a pretty nice place to live and explore the outdoors.