I was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, where I grew up the third of four children. I moved to Philadelphia in 1974 to go to school at the University of Pennsylvania, where I had a double major in Chemistry and Psychology. Not sure of what I wanted to do next, I joined VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America, domestic Peace Corps) working in adult literacy at what was initially the Philadelphia Adult Basic Education Academy and later renamed to the Center for Literacy. Did you realize that in many American cities 20% of the adult population is functionally illiterate? It really surprised me!

It was during my time in VISTA that I met Mary Moser, and we were married in 1980. I realized I needed a “real” job and moved to the U.S. Department of Labor working for the Job Corps, which is the last remaining vestige of President Johnson’s Great Society. From their website, the Job Corps is the nation’s largest free, residential career training and education program for low-income young adults ages 16 through 24. By offering hands-on training in fields like manufacturing, health care, technology and construction, we prepare students for lifelong careers in the industries that power America. 

It was during my time at the Depart of Labor that I became more interested in computers, and started working on my Masters in Information Science at Drexel University. When President Reagan decided to downsize the government I moved to the Computer Sciences Corporation and started my real career. CSC moved me to work in Dahlgren, Virginia, and I arranged with Drexel to complete my Masters with courses taught by Professors from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute at the Navel base where I was working, and in 1983 I completed that degree.

A few years later I decided to start pursuing my Doctorate, but knew I needed to maintain an income, especially after our daughter Lauren was born in March of 1985 so found a program at the George Washington University where I could attend the program part-time. To help with my dissertation, I changed jobs and became part of the research faculty in the Radiology Department at the Georgetown Medical School in Washington DC. I received my Doctor of Science (D. Sc., equivalent to a Ph. D.) in 1980.

Over the next 15 years I was able to move between many different domains, including large imagery, intelligence, high-speed networking, graphical programming, database system development, and financial programming, rounding out my knowledge of many aspects of computer science. I ended up in communications, working first at Boston Technology (which later became part of Comverse Network Systems) and finally at Avaya, a descendent of AT&T and Bell Laboratories. I retired from Avaya in 2023.

A little before my retirement I started planning for the next stage of my life, and decided it was time to give back to the community. Please see the Braudes-Clairmont Family Fund and Community Engagement pages for some of the ways I am now spending my time, talent, and treasure.