Hi, My Name Is Steve McCown

I am a Computer Scientist and I enjoy living in Utah. I like to discover, create, and build things that solve technology and business needs. Here are a few tidbits:

• BYU Grad – where I earned my B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science
• Air Force Officer – I served from 1991-1997 with the AWACS and Air Force Research Laboratory (Rome Lab)
• Favorite Programming Languages — Java, C#, & C/C++.
• Patents – 15 patented inventions (13 US, 2 China) to create IP value for businesses.
• Nuclear Physics – I turned a cell phone into a radiation detector (KSL Story)
• Leadership – I enjoy motivating developers to make cool stuff that solves business needs
• International – I have created business partnerships in Hong Kong, China, and India and done business in seven countries.
• Clearance Work – I’ve held a wide range of security clearances and would enjoy working in that world again
• Awards – R&D 100, Contactless Intelligence (Krowne & Visa), and PayPal Developer’s Challenge Finalist
• Entrepreneurial Mindset – I’ve founded or worked with 3 start-ups in addition to “internal spin-ups” that I initiated to expand my corporate employer. I enjoy either.

In My Spare Time…

Between work and family, spare time is necessary a premium. I find that downtime is rejuvenating and helps me refine a work challenge that I’m pondering and return with a fresh approach. Other times, it’s good to have fun simply to have fun. Here are a few things that I like to do:

• Jogging – for fitness … and the occasional 5K t-shirt
• Biking – to use different muscles than jogging
• Woodworking – I enjoy creating things with wood
• Skiing – there’s nothing like the solitude of resting on a chairlift through the forest on a cold day.
• Committed ‘Do-It-Yourselfer’ – if I don’t know how, I enjoy figuring it out.
• Collection Quotations – a quote book is fine, but collecting them one by one becomes a compilation of your own personal thoughts.
• Highland Bagpipes – an awesome instrument, because they’re loud, overwhelming, and nobody knows if you’re in tune!

Official Bio

Steven H. McCown focuses his career on helping companies find business solutions through innovation and creative uses of technology. He is the inventor of 15 patents, several of which have been licensed for commercialization.

Security became a key R&D point in McCown’s career while he performed security vulnerability discovery for desktops, servers, and mobile devices while at the US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. This led him to build and deploy the first secure mobile payment system based on a microSD card containing NFC and an embedded smart chip.

As an INL Principal Investigator, McCown discovered a method for ordinary cell phones to detect ionizing radiation.  From this discovery, he designed a cellphone-based wide area radiation detection grid to provide first responders with front line ‘dirty bomb’ detection capabilities.

While serving as an Air Force officer, he designed and built virtual reality systems for mission simulation and analysis software for the AWACS aircraft. McCown holds B.S. & M.S. degrees in Computer Science from Brigham Young University and is an inventor on 15 patents.