Tom Birdsong
Senior Software Engineer at NVIDIA
Carrboro, North Carolina, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolTom Birdsong is a Senior Software Engineer with seven years of experience building research-driven systems that bridge physical and digital worlds, currently contributing at NVIDIA. He specializes in spatial computing, mixed reality visualization, medical imaging, and embedded/IoT firmware, with deep C++/Python experience and practical use of ITK and VTK toolchains. Tom has shipped WebXR/WebGPU AR/VR features and gamepad-enabled interactions in vtk-js and implemented Python/C++ bindings and vector image support in the canonical ITK repository, highlighting a strong open-source footprint. His background includes end-to-end test automation and full-stack tooling at Itron and founding Clemson’s student VR center, where he secured funding and scaled mixed-reality access for hundreds of users. He combines research curiosity with production rigor—able to move algorithms from prototype to robust, cross-platform deployments. Based in Carrboro, NC, he brings a practical scientist’s approach to developer tooling, visualization pipelines, and real-world medical and IoT problems.
7 years of coding experience
6 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor’s Degree, Computer Engineering, Bachelor’s Degree, Computer Engineering at Clemson University
Github Skills (15)
itk10
javascript10
c-language10
webxr10
cpp10
cprogramming-language10
webgpu10
python10
numpy10
scientific-computing9
arjs9
opengl9
rendering9
render9
medical-imaging8
Programming languages (10)
Github contributions (5)
InsightSoftwareConsortium/ITK
Jan 2021 - Dec 2022
Insight Toolkit (ITK) -- Official Repository. ITK builds on a proven, spatially-oriented architecture for processing, segmentation, and registration of scientific images in two, three, or more dimensions.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer & Python/C++ Engineer
Back-end Developer & Python/C++ EngineerContributions:269 reviews, 98 commits, 75 PRs in 1 year 10 months
Contributions summary:Tom contributed to the Insight Toolkit (ITK) by implementing Python wrappers for numerical optimizers (v4) and exposing container interfaces for NumPy and vector operations. Their work involved modifying C++ files (e.g., `itk-module.cmake`, `itkPyVectorContainerTest.py`, and `itkPyVectorContainer.hxx`) to provide the Python bindings. Furthermore, the user fixed bugs in the wrapping process and added type hints to the functional interface. They also contributed to the support of vector images in the `VideoStream` and `ImageToVideoFilter` classes.
pythonitkcomputer-visionopen-sciencescientific
Kitware/vtk-js
Oct 2021 - Jul 2022
Visualization Toolkit for the Web
Role in this project:Full-stack Developer
Full-stack DeveloperContributions:38 reviews, 26 commits, 22 PRs in 8 months
Contributions summary:Tom primarily contributed to the vtk-js project by addressing WebGPU and WebXR compatibility issues, implementing and updating VR examples, and adding AR functionality within the existing OpenGL RenderWindow. They made modifications to the rendering pipeline, shader descriptions, and interactor to support gamepad controls within the WebXR environment. Furthermore, the user added AR-related UI elements to the GeometryViewer application and improved the WebXR volume rendering example.
reactjavascriptdata-visualizationscientific-visualizationgraphics
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