Kevin M. Cowan
Senior Gen-AI/Search Engineer
Email: kev.m.cowan@gmail.com | Phone: (512) 587-8332 | Colorado
LinkedIn Profile
Professional Summary
Seasoned technologist and accomplished professional specializing in high-performance Generative AI and Search solutions. Architect and engineer of AI-driven innovations, RAG solutions, Solr/Fusion implementations, NLP pipelines, and microservices. Creator of Ask-the-Internet.com, rockymtn_gpt2 on Hugging Face, and several open-source search tools.
Technical Proficiencies
- Languages: Java, PHP, Python, JavaScript, XML, IDL, CSS, HTML5, VXML, ColdFusion, Perl, Bash
- Application Servers: Apache, Jetty
- Search Engines: Solr, Fusion, Elasticsearch
- APIs & Platforms: OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, Meta Llama3, AWS, Google APIs
- Databases: MySQL, MSSQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle
- Tools: NetBeans, JetBrains suite, Git, Subversion, ClearCase
Professional Experience
Principal Search Engineer | LexisNexis, Raleigh, NC
2021 — Present
- Delivered Solr and application architecture consulting services.
- Engineered Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) applications with Solr and LLMs.
- Created "Fact Checker" tool integrating ChatGPT.
Enterprise Search Consulting | Capture Club, Inc., Denver, CO
2018 — 2021
- Architected AI Aggregator "Ask-the-Internet.com."
- Developed "Collection Explorer" plugin framework for Solr.
- Released open-source Solr Security Manager and Solr Monitor projects.
- Created Nashorn JS library and GPT-2 training pipelines.
Lead Search Architect | C.P.R. Associates Inc. / SOHOSQUARED
2011 — 2018
- Developed SaaS solutions using Java, PHP, JavaScript, Solr, Fusion, and Dojo.
- Lectured on Solr security at Solr Revolution 2017.
- Provided Solr engineering support to Apple and IBM projects.
Additional roles held at: AOL Sphere, South Florida Water Management District, Voxpath Networks, Ariba Technologies, Aquent Partners.
Education
University of Nebraska – Lincoln
Double Majors: English and Sociology
Minors: Advertising, Journalism, Film Theory, Psychology
Certifications
- Databricks Fundamentals
- Generative AI Fundamentals
- DeepLearning.AI Quantization Fundamentals
Applications, APIs, and Models
- Open-source: Solr Security Manager, Solr Monitor, ABHUVA, Aedons XML Server, SoyBeans Framework
- Applications: MemeFinder, Ask-the-Internet.com, SADIE
- Models: rockymtn_gpt2 (Hugging Face), GPT-2/3/4, Llama-3, Claude, Flux-1, DALL-E