Hi, I’m Ryosuke Niwa. I’m a Software Engineer in San Francisco Bay Area. I write and review patches for the open source Web browser engine WebKit.

Disclaimer: This blog does not reflect my employer’s views and opinions.

Who

In the WebKit community, I’m known as rniwa, and my areas of expertise in WebKit are contenteditable, web components, HTML, DOM, event handling, and performance testing. I’ve removed Apple-style-span and I’m the primary maintainer of WebKit’s performance dashboard and Speedometer benchmark.

I have a passion for making the world more accessible to people of every gender, race, with and without disabilities in every corner of the world. I also have a conviction that I should not believe in anything unless I can independently reach the same conclusion based on empirical evidence and/or intuition; hence the quote of René Descartes. This is why I have a lot of mathematical proofs and intuitive reasoning behind mathematical theorems and statements on my blog.

You can follow or contact me via one of the following social media:

• Facebook

• Github

• LinkedIn

• OpenHub

Education

I graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in May 2010 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. Prior to transferring to the University of California’s Berkeley campus, I studied at Diablo Valle College, a community college in Pleasant Hill, CA. I am a recipient of The Jim and Donna Gray Endowment Fund, and a member of Eta Kappa Nu and Tau Beta Pi.

Past Activities

At the Berkeley chapter of Eta Kappa Nu, the national Electrical Engineering honor society, I served as an industrial relations officer for Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 semesters.

Prior to attending college, I volunteered as a webmaster at a local program of Special Olympics in Nagano, Japan from 2001 through 2005. From 2003 through 2005, I worked for the game organizing committees of the 2004 Special Olympics Nippon National Winter Games and the 2005 Special Olympics World Winter Games Nagano, Japan to host youth summits and to launch Special Olympics' K-12 education programs in Japan. I received the Prudential Spirit of Community Award for my work in Special Olympics Nippon Nagano, and my work in the K-12 program was widely recognized by the local media.