Although I was born in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, I spent most of my youth in the rough-and-tumble mean streets of Indiana. After receiving a double Finance Bachelor's of Science and a Master's of Science in Information and Communication Sciences from Ball State University (yep the same place that David Letterman went and the home of Garfield the cat) I accepted a position in Andersen Consulting's Center for Strategic Technology Research in Chicago, IL.

Now known as Accenture Technology Labs, I spent an amazing 11 years there researching areas such as artificial intelligence and intelligent agents (using software agents to manage information overload and learn about their users), automated knowledge management (getting the right information to the right person and the right time and to the right place), multi-modal user interfaces (augmenting one modality's weaknesses with another modality), data aggregation and visualization (making sense of huge amounts of data such that a human can quickly ascertain the status of a complex system), active data personalization, active environments (environments that learn about and react to their inhabitants) and Smart Dust. You can find links to news interviews I've done, papers I've written, etc. by googling me.

While I love technology and loved the opportunities that Accenture continued to afford me, I felt a creative void increasing in step with my career advancement. The solution for me was to leave Accenture and completely submerse myself in some creative endeavor. I started taking pictures just two months before just so I could have some neat desktop images for my computers. However, the more I thought about it the more I wanted to explore the visual art of photography and this site is the result of the last year of my life.

The sabbatical from the technology industry was a perfect opportunity for me to reassess what I want for the future and what makes me happy. Photography definitely makes me happy, but it isn't enough.

I now have another research position which will feed my love of technology and give me intellectual challenge. However, I now understand the importance of a creative outlet and plan to keep this site and my photography going as a creative outlet.

[Webmaster's note: On December 7, 2004 Chad Burkey unexpectedly passed away. His website was re-establihed by his friends as a tribute to Chad and his artwork.]