Research Associate
Department of Computer Science
Florida State University

Education

BA Computer Science, Southern Illinois University MS Computer and Information Sciences, Air Force Instititute of Technology PhD Computer Science, Florida State University

Personal Background

Born: February 1955, Decatur Illinois. Home Town: Cerro Gordo, Illinois Parents: Pete and Garnet Gaitros

Work Experience

David Gaitros is currently a Research Associate and Faculty member in the Department of Computer Science at Florida State University. He is currently responsible for managing the Computer Fluency service courses for the Department of Computer Science but also teaches courses in Software Engineering, Databases, Object Oriented Design, Unix, and Data Structures. David is associated with the MorphBank Biological Phylogenetic Image Database System where he was the project manager and head software engineer. The web site may be viewed at http://morphbank.net After graduating from Southern Illinois University in 1977, David entered the Air Force as a Second Lieutenant stationed at Gunter AFS in Montgomery Alabama. His first assignment was developing and maintaining software for Air Force Civil Engineering systems. From there he and his family moved to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma where he wrote software for the 552 Airborne Warning and Control Wing for E3A Radar Aircraft and support systems. After earning his Masters of Science from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1985, David was assigned to the Freeman Mathematical Laboratory at Eglin AFB, Florida where he worked in several assignments ranging from Regional Computer Center Manager to manager of numerous large software development projects. During this time, he took on a part time job as an Adjunct Professor at the University of West Florida where he earned outstanding teaching awards for three years. In 1990, David was assigned to Washington D.C. where he was in charge of the Customer Support branch of the 1875th Computer Support Wing and Computer Engineering Branch for Air Force Systems Command. He also assisted in the transitioning of computer systems from the D.C. area to Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. In addition, his office was also chartered to a support role for the Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations. In 1992, David was assigned as an instructor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California where he was selected to be the Associate Chair for the Department. In addition to his job as the Associate Chair,he was the senior Air Force Officer on post and he taught numerous programming and software engineering courses. In 1995, David took his final Air Force assignment at Tyndall AFB, Florida where he the Chief for Computers and Communications for the Air Force Civil Engineer. In this capacity, he was in charge of the upgrade and modernization of all Air Force Civil Engineering local area networks around the world and the Air Foce Civil Engineer System (ACES) development project. He retired from the Air Force at the Rank of Lieutenant Colonel on June 1st, 1999. Upon retirement, he accepted a position as the Associate Chair of the Computer Science Department at Florida State University where he served in that capacity until August 2005. He has held positions at Florida State University as a Project Manager, Faculty, Director or User Services, and Research Associate. Personal David is Married to the former Cynthia Ann Carnes of Geneseo Illinois. They have three children( Heather: 1977, Adria: 1979, and Anthony: 1989) and two grandchilden (Gillian: 2007 and Trey 2010).

Last updated: 05/2011    Copyright: 2011