Hi, I’m Greg!

Greg and Kate With DogsI was born and raised in State College, Pennsylvania and attended State College Area High School. This is where I first became interested in both photography and technology, which became my main areas of study at Penn State. I dual majored in Information Sciences & Technology and Art (with a photography concentration) and graduated in May 2016. Learning about these topics came easily for me because they are also my most valued hobbies.

While at Penn State, I also completed the Humanitarian Engineering & Social Entrepreneurship (HESE) certificate program, where we identified and developed solutions to create value in developing countries. Before graduating, I had technology-centered internships with The Gateway Lodge in Cook Forest, Booz Allen Hamilton in Maryland, and Liberty Mutual in both Portsmouth, NH and Seattle, WA. My travels also include Panama and Honduras with Global Brigades, and Sierra Leone with HESE.

I finished my undergraduate degrees in May 2016, and currently work as a Network Engineer for a small managed service provider.

Photography

I’ve been shooting photography since 2010, and it has been one of my bigger hobbies and areas of study.  Click one of the photos below to see more like it, or check out my full gallery on DeviantArt.

Projects

Server Rack that was built from wood by Greg Wenner.

Good Heart Technology

Good Heart Technology is a nonprofit I am founding to assist other nonprofits with their technology needs.  While in Lubbock, I discovered with just an hour or two working on their technology, organizations like The West Texas Humane Society could receive significant long-term benefit.

Website Development

I assist nonprofit organizations and my friends with creating their own customized, professional websites.  I always use WordPress to build these sites, and I thoroughly enjoy seeing a web project come together.  Sites I’ve created: Nutrition DeJunked, Deanna Nagle Photography, Louis Jablowski (Playwright), Good Heart Technology

DIY Server Cabinet and Standing Desk

In March 2018, after outgrowing my 8-bay drive enclosure, I was compelled to get a rack mounted solution. Unfortunately, a lot of the commercial racks were either far too expensive, or not what I needed. I did some searches and came across a few links to DIY server rack projects that I thought were super cool.

The Lonely Web

After hearing podcast by Joe Veix about content that had not seen the light of day, I was inspired to create a web service to seek out and display it. The purpose of this service is to bring those “lonely” pieces of content to the forefront and give them some love. It turns out they can be beautiful, wacky, and even sad.

Fathoming Our Future

This project was completed as an independent study during my last semester at Penn State, in May 2016.  It is a five-part video series outlining abstract concepts and takeaways extrapolated from Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guartarii’s A Thousands Plateaus.

Good Heart Technology

Good Heart Technology is a nonprofit I am founding to assist other nonprofits with their technology needs.  While in Lubbock, I discovered with just an hour or two working on their technology, organizations like The West Texas Humane Society could receive significant long-term benefit.

Website Development

I assist nonprofit organizations and my friends with creating their own customized, professional websites.  I always use WordPress to build these sites, and I thoroughly enjoy seeing a web project come together.  Sites I’ve created: Nutrition DeJunked, Deanna Nagle Photography, Louis Jablowski (Playwright), Good Heart Technology

DIY Server Cabinet and Standing Desk

In March 2018, after outgrowing my 8-bay drive enclosure, I was compelled to get a rack mounted solution. Unfortunately, a lot of the commercial racks were either far too expensive, or not what I needed. I did some searches and came across a few links to DIY server rack projects that I thought were super cool.

The Lonely Web

After hearing podcast by Joe Veix about content that had not seen the light of day, I was inspired to create a web service to seek out and display it. The purpose of this service is to bring those “lonely” pieces of content to the forefront and give them some love. It turns out they can be beautiful, wacky, and even sad.

Fathoming Our Future

This project was completed as an independent study during my last semester at Penn State, in May 2016.  It is a five-part video series outlining abstract concepts and takeaways extrapolated from Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guartarii’s A Thousands Plateaus.

Publications

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Organizational models of mobile payment systems in low-resource environments

Information Technology for Development (May 2017)

The rapid growth and diffusion of mobile phones in the developing world has created an inclusive and dynamic platform to address a smorgasbord of socio-economic challenges. The uptake of mobile payment (m-payment) systems is a compelling example of how such a platform can be leveraged to democratize access to online banking and financial services…

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Making data collection in low-resource contexts intuitive, fun, and interactive

IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (San Jose, October 2014)

Community health data can be used to track diseases, facilitate efficient deployment of medical resources, or reduce clinic wait times in fledgling healthcare systems in developing countries. Despite these potential benefits, many electronic data collection, aggregation and digitization projects fail within a few years of launching…

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Hobbies

  • Freestyle Footbag – Commonly called Hacky sack, footbag is a sport that is played by controlling a bag with your feet.

  • Woodworking – As an art major at Penn State, I ended up spending a lot of time in the wood shop, creating all sorts of projects out of wood.  I continue the hobby today, usually just making things that are needed around the house, just for aesthetic appeal.

  • Disc Golf – I was introduced to Disc Golf while living in Lubbock, TX and continue to play.