Erik Kangas, PhD – Chief Technology Officer, Founder
With 30 years engaged in to both academic research and software architecture, Erik Kangas fused the two strains of his analytical background in 1999 while founding LuxSci, which provides elegant, efficient, and robust solutions for scalable secure email and Web hosting services. Being chief architect and developer, Erik has “grown” LuxSci to become a well-respected name in the fields of online security and HIPAA compliance. In fact, Erik displayed his penchant for computers from boyhood in Cleveland Ohio, where he began to teach himself the programming languages Basic and Pascal in 5th grade, moving on to Assembly language as a teenager, and then winning first place at the Ohio high school state science fair for authoring a novel programming language.
With undergraduate degrees in physics and mathematics from Case Western Reserve University, Erik was one of the youngest students to be admitted, as a full collaborator in a large-scale high-energy physics experiment. Five years later he earned his doctoral degree in computational biophysics from MIT. Then, at Akamai Technologies, Erik made significant contributions to architecting, developing, and maintaining various Web-based applications and services. As a visiting professor of physics at MIT, he collaborated on molecular dynamics simulations.
An international lecturer on messaging security, Erik also advises and consults on email best practices, secure web site architectures, and HIPAA compliance. As CTO of LuxSci, Erik is personally incorporating cutting edge technologies, such as Machine Learning and AI Ops, into the LuxSci ecosystem.
When he does take time away from LuxSci, Erik studies advanced computer science and data analytics techniques, enjoys science fiction and philosophy, and participates in endurance sports. Erik has completed one full Ironman triathlon, four Half Ironman triathlons, numerous marathons, and many long-distance open water swimming competitions.