Michael Sparks
Computational Biologist (SY)
Beltsville, Maryland, United States
Summary
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Senior🎓
Top SchoolMichael Sparks is a computational biologist with over two decades of experience analyzing large-scale sequence data, currently leading insect pest and biocontrol genomics at USDA-ARS in Beltsville. He specializes in transcriptomics, metagenomics, genome annotation and gene finding across plants, insects and diverse microbes, and has overseen cooperative research, external funding, and HPC lab operations. His work spans applied agricultural problems—plant–insect and microbe–insect interactions—and fundamental tools for eukaryotic gene discovery, informed by a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. He has mentored students from undergraduate to postdoc levels and previously applied biostatistics and epidemiological modeling to antimicrobial resistance studies. A detail that often surprises collaborators: alongside deep computational expertise he maintains formal training in accounting and management, which supports his role in managing grants, resources and lab infrastructure.
11 years of coding experience
1 year of employment as a software developer
Ph.D., Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, 2007, Ph.D., Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, 2007 at Iowa State UniversityNon-Degree Coursework, Accounting, Economics and Management, 2013, 4.0, Non-Degree Coursework, Accounting, Economics and Management, 2013, 4.0 at Montgomery CollegeB.S. with Departmental Honors in Biology, summa cum laude, 2002, B.S. with Departmental Honors in Biology, summa cum laude, 2002 at University of Kentucky
Github Skills (1)
uploader1
Programming languages (1)
Github contributions (5)
sparksmb/coin-flip-app
Jul 2014 - Jul 2014
Contributions:14 commits in 14 days
sparksmb/scoreboard
Feb 2025 - Mar 2025
Scoreboard Web App for OBS
Contributions:2 PRs, 22 pushes, 4 branches in 1 month
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