Cooper Morgan
CS Master's '26 | Relocating to Akureyri, Iceland
Timeline
Experiences
Relocating to Akureyri, Iceland
Seeking software engineering roles in Akureyri.
MS in Computer Science @ WWU
- GPA: 4.0
MS in Computer Science @ WWU
Western Washington University
- Paper: Adversarial DNS Exfiltration: Framework and Defense Evaluation.
- Graduate courses in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Robotics, and Neural Terrain Representation.
PAST BS in Computer Science
- Minor in Anthropology
Graduate Research Assistant @ WWU
AI for Adversarial Cybersecurity, Western Washington University
- Designed and built a novel adversarial framework in Python that outperformed state-of-the-art detection methods, validating results against real municipal network data with cross-dataset validation.
- Developed a novel encoding scheme, rethinking adversarial DNS Exfiltration by using combinatorial mathematics to optimize data transmission through structural patterns rather than payload manipulation.
- Implemented reinforcement learning and LSTM models to optimize system configurations and mimic realistic network behavior, maximizing throughput while evading detection.
- Engineered concurrent data pipelines for simulating, parsing, and validating large volumes of DNS records.
PAST Undergraduate Research Assistant
Systems Research Group
- Led development of the Vulkan Synthetic Vision System for Raspberry Pi 5 using Go.
- Collaborated with a multidisciplinary research team, driving meetings and aligning technical direction with project objectives.
Graduate Teaching Assistant @ WWU
CS Department, Western Washington University
- Taught Computer Systems 1 lab across 5 sections (~100+ students), grading code, tests, and written assignments, and holding office hours.
- Graded and TAed two Operating Systems courses.
PAST Teaching Assistant
CS Department
- Taught Computer Systems 1 lab across 2 sections, grading assignments and holding office hours.
Software Developer Intern @ SPIE
- Architected the frontend for SPIE's Digital Library redesign as the founding React/TypeScript engineer on the team, defining the tech stack, module structure, and build standards that moved a large legacy Razor/jQuery codebase to a modern React Islands architecture.
- Designed and built the platform's React/TypeScript component library and owned its highest-traffic pages (article detail and account), authoring a live component showcase that onboarded the rest of the team to React and TypeScript.
- Built the cross-site OAuth handshake and end-to-end session handoff (sign-in, signing, and Redux state) shared across SPIE's web properties, backed by a new Redis caching pipeline.
- Cut page load times by 90% and build times by 50% through Webpack chunking, lazy loading, and pruning redundant assets from the build, and implemented hot module reloading the team had previously been unable to achieve with their SSR React Islands setup.
- Refactored legacy model-bound views into well-structured API and Entity Controllers in C#/ASP.NET MVC.
BS in Computer Science @ WWU
- Minor in Anthropology
- GPA: 3.90
People's Choice Award @ WWU
Project: Vulkan Synthetic Vision System. Faculty Spotlight
Software Developer @ WWU
CS Department, Western Washington University
- Spearheaded backend development as the sole backend developer using Python (Django) with frontend development in TypeScript (React), integrating with Canvas LMS.
- Conducted qualitative research by interviewing faculty about grading workflows and instructor-TA communication processes.
- Designed backend architecture and RESTful API endpoints for grading, feedback, and course management operations.
Program Support Staff @ WWU
Financial Aid, Western Washington University
- Automated data processing workflows in Go and Python, with PDF processing, reducing manual review by 10 hours weekly.
- Created a duplicate-checking system that identified matching SSNs and names, saving over 200 hours of manual review over the summer and reducing human error in data verification.
- Partnered with team members to identify and automate repetitive workflows, increasing efficiency and accuracy.
- Engineered a flexible document processing framework with configuration-based rule management, enabling non-technical staff to update processing logic independently.
Moved to Bellingham, WA, USA
Began my education and software journey at WWU.