Ruben Gamboa #

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Engineering Building, Room 4071B
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
College of Engineering and Physical Sciences
University of Wyoming
Laramie, WY 82071
ruben@uwyo.edu

Short Bio #

Teaching has always been my top priority, and these days I teach the discrete math course, the functional programming course, the programming languages course, and a high school course on AP Computer Science Principles. In the past, I taught databases, software engineering, software design, algorithms, computer graphics, compilers, networks, enterprise programming, computational number theory, the senior capstone course, and even a course on my research area (automated reasoning). Through UW’s honors program, I have also taught courses exploring the emergence of a digital society and the possibility of automated artists.

My primary research area involves theorem proving, modifying and using the theorem prover ACL2. Under the supervision of Bob Boyer, I created ACL2(r) for my dissertation. ACL2(r) is a variant of ACL2 that uses non-standard analysis to formalize the irrational numbers. I have since used ACL2 and ACL2(r) to prove several different theorems, such as the impossibility of certain classical geometric constructions (like trisecting an angle), the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra, Taylor’s Theorem, and the Cook-Levin Theorem. I am also interested in other applications of theorem proving. See my research overview for details.

I spent 15 years in industry before joining academia. My last full-time job in industry was as the Vice President of Engineering of Loop One, Inc, which was then acquired by Neopost. During the previous 10 years, I worked for LIM as a founder, senior architect, and director. After Morningstar acquired LIM, I served a term on Morningstar’s Technical Advisory Board. My start in industry was as a junior researcher in the Deductive Computing Group of MCC.

And I enjoy many things outside of work. As an amateur astronomer, I love observing the night sky and taking the occasional deep-sky image in my personal observatory. I am also a science-fiction fan (books, movies, conventions). I was a private pilot, and technically I still am though Wyoming’s winds keep me grounded. I love classical music, especially the piano works of Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven. I love the Denver Broncos and cherish my Broncos season tickets. And above all, I’m devoted to my wife and two kids. My wife and I enjoy many of the above, like the night sky, science fiction, music, the Broncos, and hiking together, though she draws the line at flying. We enjoy our time together, but we both miss the kids dearly now that they are both away to college. We look forward to retiring and moving closer to them (and any grandchildren who may appear.) #emptynest