Objectives

Combining a decision support system background with strong organizational skills and scientific methodology, Helen Powell is especially interested in developing and improving information systems in either research or business settings.

Employment/Experience Summary

OVERVIEW

Helen Powell is a systems analyst with 14 years of experience in project management and planning, quality assurance, systems analysis and design, documentation, computer programming, and graphical presentation. Her work has included data analysis, database management, statistical sampling, and document control and tracking. Ms. Powell is an accomplished programmer, familiar with various types of software, hardware, operating systems, and computer facilities. She is experienced in working with clients and project staff in the areas of health, environment, education, and child studies, as well as telecommunications and finance.   EXAMPLES OF PROJECT EXPERIENCE   National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, Phase III National Household Education Survey 1992 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey National Surveys and Policy Studies Pertaining to      Lead-Based Paint in Housing National Human Adipose Tissue Study Comparability Study Indoor Air Quality Study Assessing the Risks to the Public of In-Place Asbestos Cultural Diversity Employee Survey Breast Implant Followup Investigation Nuclear Facilities Study Hazardous Waste Biennial Reporting System Revenue Systems Management

COMPUTER EXPERIENCE

Ms. Powell has acted as a liaison to clients and hardware vendors, conducted client training, worked on time planning and expense tracking, documented functional requirements, and designed and produced reports and graphics for client use. She has performed automated file editing and reformatting, conversion between types of files (e.g., SAS, Excel, CLIPPER, Word, and text files), and electronic transfers between IBM mainframe, VAX, IBM PC, and Macintosh systems. She also has developed and implemented interactive DBMS's for data entry and receipt control. She has created and maintained a web site.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Senior SAS Programmer - Social & Scientific Systems, Inc. (Bethesda, MD); Systems Engineer - Systems Engineering Services (Reston, VA); Advanced Programmer Analyst - HBO & Co. / GMIS Product Group (Rockville, MD); Systems Analyst - Westat, Inc. (Rockville, MD); Business Systems Analyst - International Computer Systems, Inc. (Vienna, VA); Management Information Consultant - Arthur Andersen & Co. (Washington, DC);   IN BETWEEN COLLEGE SEMESTERS:   Drapery Consultant and Salesclerk - Minnesota Fabrics, Inc. (Rockville, MD); Blood Serum Liaison and Laboratory Assistant - Biotech Research Labs (Rockville, MD); Laboratory Assistant for Insect Juvenile Hormone Effects - Dr. H. J. Nijhout, Dept. of Zoology, Duke University (Durham, NC); Coder, Office Assistant, and Receptionist - Good Friend Temporaries (Wheaton, MD);

Education

	M.B.A., Management Information Systems,      University of Maryland at College Park, 1985; B.S., Zoology, Duke University, 1982
	Arthur Andersen & Co. Consultant Training Schools, 1985-1986

Skills

	Ms. Powell's skills range from assembly language programming, to high-level macro language coding, to project management of data processing activities. Details of her experience follow.   Her responsibilities as the main systems analyst on projects have covered all aspects of database management:   - quality control; - confidentiality assurance; - coordination with client and project staff; - personnel time and expense scheduling; - data comparison, correction, and verification of accuracy; - frame generation and selection of statistical samples of cases; - production of analytic data files, reports, and system documentation; and - creation of codebooks and presentation quality tables delivered to the client.   She has written original code or adapted existing procedures to perform varied data analyses:   - imputations; - simulations; - statistical analyses of sampling and nonsampling errors; - identification of statistical outliers; - normalization of weights; - logistic and linear regressions; - descriptive statistics using SAS procedures such as Freq, Means, Tabulate, GLM, Corr, Varclus, and Cluster; and - factor, reliability, correlation, and means analyses using SPSS for MS-Windows.   Data entry and receipt control systems which she designed & implemented allowed users to:   - track questionnaires; - safeguard respondent confidentiality; - verify the accuracy of data being entered; - search records by multiple methods; - create batches; - produce status reports; - create and read barcoded labels; and - provide automated file backup.   Her facility with graphics has been shown when she:   - fully automated the SAS Proc GMAP production of choropleth, prism, block, and surface geographic maps rotated in three-dimensional perspective; - designed, coordinated, and implemented data processing to computer-generate code which resulted in presentation quality tables and charts; - produced high-quality color maps with Atlas*Graphics to illustrate the location of nuclear facilities to legislators; - developed an innovative and practical approach to completely automate the creation of a user's manual specifying the requirements for editing database entries; - produced Gantt charts, flow charts, and other computer graphics; and - documented the methodology and coordinated data processing for map production.
	Programming and Software - Ms. Powell has had extensive experience with: SAS and SPSS statistical packages, CLIPPER, dBASE III+/IV, Harvard Graphics, Lotus 1-2-3, and MS-Excel.   Her programming skills also include: UNIX C Shell, BASIC/BASICA, C, PL/C and PL/1, SQL, COBOL, PASCAL, Transaction Processing Facility, and THETA and Basic Assembly Language.   Other software packages with which she has worked include: GDT's Matchmaker for Windows, MS-Access, Lindo, Prokey, KeyEntry III, Novell and TOPS/Netprint networks, and graphics packages: MS-Powerpoint, MS-Project, MS-Query, Visio, Flow Charting II/III, ABC FlowCharter, PMW, MS-Chart, MS-Milestones, and Atlas*Graphics.   Ms. Powell is familiar with the communications packages: Reflection, FTP Client, SmarTerm 240, Procomm, and Kermit; and the Internet browsers: MS-Internet Explorer, Mosaic, and Netscape.   She has used several text editing systems: TSO/ISPF, EDT, PE II/III, Westat's COED, WYLBUR and SuperWYLBUR, MS-Word, Xtree Pro/Gold/Net with 1Word, Wordstar, HP-Memomaker, Multimate, and WordPerfect.
	Hardware - Ms. Powell has used the RS/6000 server with AIX/UNIX, IBM models 9672, 9021, 5990, 4381, and 3090 with MVS/ESA, MVS/XA, and OS/JCL; DEC VAX models 8700, 8810, 4700, 4500, and 4000 with VMS/DCL; and UNIVAC. Her microcomputer experience has included IBM PCs with MS-DOS and MS-Windows, and the HP 110 with PAM. She has used the following computer centers:   Fannie Mae Computer Center, Washington, DC; Westat VAX Computer Center, Rockville, MD; U. S. Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control Atlanta Data Center, GA; Boeing Computer Services, Vienna, VA; U. S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration Computer Facility, DC; U. S. Environmental Protection Agency National Computer Center, NC; Dial-Tyme Tele-processing by Consumers Computer Services, Inc., Washington, DC; and MCI Telecommunications Computer Center, MD.

Personal Interests

Community Event Organizer, Band Leader, and Web Site Editor

Leap@mindspring.com