About

👋🏻 I'm Hagen — a software engineer who got here by way of a PhD in building science. These days I build internal AI tools at Rogers-O'Brien, a construction company in Texas, where I'm a Software Engineer II.

My current focus is Compass, an internal platform that connects all of our data sources behind a single chat interface. On top of that conversational layer it bundles apps, dashboards, and third-party integrations. Ideally, the platform helps our people do their work and take actions without hopping between a dozen systems. It's the kind of problem I like: messy real-world data, a lot of moving parts, and a chance to make someone's day genuinely easier.

Before construction tech, I spent years in research. I earned my PhD in Civil Engineering at UT Austin studying building energy and indoor air quality. I built low-cost sensor networks out of Raspberry Pis, deployed wearables and environmental monitors across Texas, and used machine learning to understand how the spaces we live in affect our sleep and mood. That work turned into a handful of publications and a lasting habit of measuring things that probably don't need measuring. I also taught a lot along the way — programming, fluid mechanics, statistics — and UT invited me back in Fall 2025 to teach Introduction to Computer Methods. (Hopefully they ask me back 🤞🏻)

Outside of work I play a lot of beach volleyball. When I'm not on a court I'm usually tinkering with something; a new tool, a side project, or whatever rabbit hole has my attention that week. This site is where some of that ends up.