User:Rlaird
 | This user has publicly declared that they have a conflict of interest regarding the Wikipedia article IUCRR. |
With respect to the COI... I am the retired co-founder of the non-profit organization, IUCRR, which has been around for 23 years. I wrote this article to ensure there is public information about the organization, regardless of any other source. (Since I am retired, I have no control over their website.) Rlaird (talk) 17:41, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
Robert Laird, currently retired, worked in Information Technology (IT) since before 1985. In 1970,he was enrolled in a vocational course at Spring Branch High School in Houston, which allowed hime to learn COBOL on an RCA Spectra 70 (IBM 360 clone). He also learned how to boot a paper-tape on a PDP-8, and learned programming on that platform as well. He briefly attended the University of Houston, learning FORTRAN. After 3 years in the U.S. Navy, he eventually found himself purchasing an Apple II computer and self-taught himself BASIC and 6502 assembly language. From that basis, he eventually learned to write programs which were useful for product tracking and accounting in a manufacturing company he worked for. That segued into a job at ComputerLand, helping implement personal computer and networking solutions to corporations in Houston, primarily with Compaq desktops/luggables and Corvus and Novell networks. After that he ended up at a natural gas company, Trunkline Gas, which morphed over the years into Panhandle Eastern, PanEnergy, then Duke Energy, working in various positions within the IT department, including computer training development, programming manager, IT special projects, etc. After 20+ years and Duke Energy and predecessors, he also worked for HP and Chevron, retiring in October 2015.
As for avocations, Robert Laird has been SCUBA diving since 1976, is a dive master and has been cave diving since 1994. Trained in both cave and trimix diving, he has participated in a variety of exploration projects in Missouri, Arkansas, Cozumel, Andros, and Goodenough Springs in West Texas. In 1999 he co-founded the IUCRR, an international, not-for-profit educational and public service organization which assists local authorities in the rescue and recovery of victims in underwater-overhead environments. An active pilot for over 20 years, his experience includes conventional fixed-wing, seaplane, ultralight fixed-wing, flex-wing and gyroplanes and continued to participate in experimental aviation. Robert is also an author, having written many articles on IT, photography, cave diving and aviation. Robert lives near Houston, Texas.