Alumni Spotlight – Ryan Godwin
Dr. Ryan Godwin graduated from the Wake Forest Physics PhD program in 2017. Now he is a Professor of Data Scientist at the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Medicine. In the following interview Professor Salsbury discusses with Professor Godwin his experiences at Wake Forest and subsequent career path.
Prof. Salsbury: What are you doing now career-wise?
Prof. Godwin: I’m a faculty Data Scientist at the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Medicine, cross appointed in the Anesthesiology and Radiology departments. I do a lot of AI-based research for healthcare applications and teach courses for an AI in Medicine graduate certificate and am slated to teach a class on AI applications to physiological time-series data for an upcoming Masters Degree. I also have a couple of active companies in different spaces including software engineering and consulting.
Prof. Salsbury: What did you do right out of Wake Forest?
Prof. Godwin: Right after graduation, I taught introductory physics at WFU and worked on entrepreneurial projects. Those short-term entrepreneurship efforts didn’t pan out, unfortunately, but two of my LLCs persist and are currently ‘side-hustles’ with active contracts. These include things like developing real-time control system software for biomechanics installations and doing data science consulting for a sensor-agnostic wearable device company.
Prof. Godwin: How did Wake Forest Physics help you get where you are today?
For starters, the education was excellent and prepared me to solve all sorts of difficult problems, develop a curriculum for cutting edge courses on AI in Medicine, and confidently apply these skills to diverse domains. In addition to the excellent education, I made lifelong friends and colleagues during my time at WFU. I still work closely with Dr. Ryan Melvin in the Anesthesia Department at UAB and I provide consulting services for a company where Dr. Jeremy Ward serves as VP of products and partnerships.
Prof. Salsbury: Do you have an anecdote you would care to share either from your time at Wake Forest physics or from afterward relevant to Wake Physics?
Prof. Godwin: During my entrepreneurship efforts right after graduation, I needed to code up some coordinate transformations provided by our client for a biomechanics-related project. After some frustration with testing not going well, I was able to uncover the root issue. It turned out they had a mistake in their Euler angle calculations that I was able to identify and fix to ultimately get the control system working correctly (thanks, Dr. Holzwarth!)
Prof. Salsbury: Is there anything you would like to share with prospective or current students?
Prof. Godwin: If you find physics compelling and you’re considering enrolling at Wake Forest for a degree in it – I highly recommend it. The faculty are incredibly knowledgeable, insightful, and generous with their time. Wake Forest provides a unique offering with high-quality research opportunities and small class sizes to ensure personalized feedback and attention. Additionally, there are lots of great collaboration opportunities with other departments and the larger community of Winston Salem is burgeoning with a revitalized downtown and a vibrant, tech-oriented culture.