Sid Porter

Sid is the Chief Data Scientist and co-founder of FEV Analytics, directing the company’s research, discovery development, and validation. Sid holds a Ph.D. Mathematics from Yale University.

Sid’s history of successfully reducing theory to practical algorithms began with his dissertation Decoding Codes Arising from Goppa’s Construction on Algebraic Curves. Although largely theoretical in nature, Sid’s breakthrough step was the development of a practical algorithm which proved that decoding of certain error correcting codes defined on algebraic curves over finite fields could be achieved in polynomial time. Previously it had been shown on purely theoretical grounds that efficient error correcting codes existed up to the Gilbert-Varshamov bound, but despite years of research no one had proved whether these codes had a practical decoding algorithm. Sid’s work solved a major problem and opened the door for a new field of research.  Sid’s work is still frequently cited today, 25 years later. Sid’s work also showed that an infinite class of efficient error correcting codes could be useful, especially when applied to pulling signal from very noisy and sparse data.  Sid was previously Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at Boise State University, and Software Architect at Morrison Knudsen, data-Cache, and Hitachi Systems. At Catalytic Software, a global software services firm, Sid held the position of Director Client Services, which also encapsulated the company’s senior-most quality assurance role. He is a National Merit Scholar and an accomplished athlete, having toured the professional satellite tennis circuits in Europe, South Africa and the U.S. and ranking in the Pacific Northwest Top 10 Men’s Singles between 1977-79.