About Nikitas Tampakis

Employment

Director of Application Development, University of Pennsylvania Libraries, May 2022-Present

Oversee the development and ongoing maintenance of the library catalog, digital repository, main library website, and other digital library and cultural heritage computing applications.
Manage a team of 12 web developers and programmer analysts.

Web Projects Leader, March 2020-April 2022

Discovery Infrastructure Developer, Princeton University Library, July 2014-March 2020

Build, test, document, and maintain applications related to the library’s digital repository, discovery systems, and digital preservation, with a focus on the Library Catalog and integration with the Library’s metadata systems.
Participate in the broader library open source software development community, including the Samvera and Blacklight projects.

Languages/Frameworks: Ruby, Rails, Java, PHP, Drupal, Python, Django, C, HTML, CSS, Sass, Bootstrap, Javascript, jQuery
Accessibility and User Experience: Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA), user research, information architecture, wireframing, visual design
Server Software: Apache, Solr, Nginx, Jetty, Tomcat, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MSSQL, Oracle, Redis
Development Tools: Git/Github, Docker, Ansible, Capistrano, RSpec, Capybara, Travis, Circle CI

Master of Science in Computational Linguistics, University of Washington, September 2019-Present

Emphasis on natural language processing and computational methods for enhancing the creative writing process.

Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science, Princeton University, Class of 2014

Certificates: Linguistics, Hellenic Studies, and Italian Language and Culture
Senior Thesis: Computational Poetry: Translating Greek and Italian Popular Songs - An exploration of computer resources to simulate/expand the creative process of translating song lyrics. Phonological similarities, rhyme, and musical emphases are taken into account such that an English translation maintains the poetic elements shared across popular Greek and Italian songs. A mapping of Italian and Modern Greek phonologies to English sounds is coupled with a multilingual semantic network compiled through the WordNet project. Search algorithms across these systems analyze and attempt to replicate the skills employed by professional translators in creating “bilingual” songs, lyrics which fit within the music of songs that exist in another language.
Independent Research: City of Gold exhibition, Digital Fauvel, Sonification and Analysis of X-ray Scatters
Coursework: Programming Systems, Data Structures and Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Graphics, Machine Translation, Logic Design, Signal Processing, Music Composition, Constructed Languages, Second Language Acquisition, Anthropological Linguistics

Tampakis, Nikitas (July 2023). Machine learning and artificial intelligence for the humanities, Summer Institute: Digital Humanities for Hellenic Studies, Athens, Greece.
Gaulrapp, Kara and Nikitas Tampakis (June 2021). LAdvanced Alternative Text: Graphs, Diagrams, Maps, and Charts, Web Accessibility at Penn, Virtual.
Tampakis, Nikitas and Leslie Vallhonrat (March 2021). Leveling up on a11y during COVID-19, Penn IT Staff Convention 2021, Virtual.
Tampakis, Nikitas and Axa Liauw (March 2020). Introduction to User Experience Design, Code4Lib, Pittsburgh, PA.
Scott, Darwin and Nikitas Tampakis (February 2020). Launching a New Delivery System for Streaming Audio Reserves and Performance Archives at the Princeton University Library, Music Library Association, Norfolk, VA.
Tampakis, Nikitas (June 2019). IIIF Content Discoverability and the Keyword “iiif”, IIIF Conference, Göttingen, Germany.
Keck, Jessie and Nikitas Tampakis (July 2018). Customizing Blacklight: Approaches and Best Practices, workshop at Blacklight Summit, Princeton, NJ.
Tampakis, Nikitas (October 2017). Blacklight Highlights at Princeton University, Blacklight European Summit 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jordan, Eliot and Nikitas Tampakis (January 2017). Princeton’s Geospatial Repository, Geo4LibCamp 2017, Stanford, CA.

A Musical Tribute to Nikos Gatsos, featuring Grigoris Maninakis and the Mikrokosmos Ensemble, Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, NY, December 2023, guest vocalist
Echoes of the Past: Asia Minor in Greek Songs with the Utopia Music Project, University of Chicago, IL, October 2022, vocals, viola, and bouzouki

Greek Rock Sounds: Rhythms And Riffs Across Cultures, featuring PANEL, September 2023, concert co-producer, viola, and backing vocals
Diasporas: Modern Greek Musical Traditions Across Space and Time, March 2023, concert co-producer, viola, and vocals
Schemata: Modern Greek Iterations On Classical Forms, March 2022, cviola, baglama, and vocals
New Greek Music Traditions, November 2021, concert producer, viola, baglama, and vocals
Samples: Greek Music Across Digital and Acoustic Domains, February 2020, concert producer, viola, and vocals
Songs From Cyprus, May 2019, viola
Let Me Tell You A Story, May 2019, concert producer, viola, and vocals
Music and Verse: From Sappho to Elytis, October, 2018, concert producer, viola, and vocals
Living Traditions: A Tribute to Contemporary Greek Songwriters, March 2018, concert producer, viola, and vocals
Musical Crossroads: Greek Melodies Across Cultures v2, October 2016, concert producer, viola, and vocals
Searching for a Homeland: Songs of Exile and Displacement, February 2016, concert producer, viola, and vocals
Concert Tribute to Lina Nikolakopoulou, March 2015, concert organizer, viola, and vocals
New Greek Songs: Cycles in Tradition, October 2014, concert producer, viola, bouzouki, and vocals
Musical Crossroads: Greek Melodies Across Cultures, November 2013, concert producer, viola, and vocals