Mission
Hyperhound is a Texas nonprofit with the mission to develop technology that helps the nation’s homeless animals.
Caity
Caity is the original hyper hound. At the age of fourteen, she has slowed down some, but still runs a tight ship, herding the rest of the family to where they need to be. Chop, chop, lollipop. She started out as a young shelter dog in Carson City, Nevada. After a long career spent bounding over some things and leaping after others, she has now established herself in a gentler routine that often emphasizes research into the way things smell.
Caity’s person is Christopher McFall, the Executive Director of Hyperhound. As one of the founders of Apple’s original Advanced Technology Group, Chris invented patented file storage technology used on billions of iPhones, iPods, and Macintoshes. For a decade he ran a software contracting company designing and building a broad gamut of solutions, from web and mobile apps to hardware-in-the-loop simulators for space vehicle flight systems. Since becoming interested in animal rescue, he has done statistical modeling of animal shelter data, served as a consultant to legal teams on animal protection cases, and with his wife has regularly rescued and fostered dogs with medical or behavioral issues. He is currently interested in the application of deep learning to animal rescue problems. Chris is a graduate of Virginia Tech and Stanford.
Reuben
Reuben began life as a neonatal foster through the Humane Society of Silicon Valley. His foster parents watched him grow up and then found him a loving home: their own! Ten years later Reuben has life pretty much the way he likes it. He enjoys jaunts in the car and walks around town. But his true love is chasing the ball up the stairs, and down the stairs, and up the stairs, and down the stairs, and up… He was the best man at his favorite person’s wedding.
Reuben’s person is Allen Khorasani, a Hyperhound board member. Al started out at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center publishing research on database systems and the fractal structure of wave forms. After making the move to Silicon Valley, his work spanned a broad range of interests, including video games, medical imaging, mobile development, and most recently self-driving vehicles, focusing on digital clusters, sensor sets, and deep learning networks. He is the inventor on several patents in these areas. About fostering Reuben, he says, “the experience completely changed how I viewed our relationship with animals.” Al is a graduate of Syracuse University and Pace University.
Rascal
As a puppy, Rascal would race under the dining room chairs. Eleven years later, she still tries to go under those chairs from time to time, thinking she has not grown much. Rascal is often seen carrying a stick around in her mouth, because, as everyone knows, you can trade sticks in for snacks. She is an accomplished bug catcher, using the both-paws method. Recently, she has been practicing her skills during trips to Montana.
Rascal’s person is Joseph Buczek, a Hyperhound board member. Joe grew up in the Florida Keys and transplanted to Silicon Valley. He has been developing software for over forty years, for a wide range of companies. He designed and built advanced system software for the Macintosh and embedded real-time solutions for Tesla automobiles and Wham-o interactive toys. Joe created the prototype that led to the development of the Kindle and the formation of Amazon’s Lab 126. Over the years he has founded and led two software contracting companies. Now he alternates between working in Silicon Valley and visits to Montana with Rascal and the family. Joe is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University.