Meet the Instructor

Colby O’Donnell

Instructor, Foundations of C

Colby O'Donnell has been programming professionally since 1999. His passion lies in implementing simple, clean and testable software designs that meet customer needs. For 11 years, he used C++ to develop portions of several major software releases of premium ultrasound devices at Philips Healthcare and Siemens Healthcare. In 2011, O'Donnell worked full-time at Microsoft, using C# and T-SQL to add three features to an IT solution accelerator business product. In 2012, he returned to Philips to architect test automation software in C# for the latest ultrasound devices. In 2025, he switched from ultrasound to laser light and joined the software team at Cytek Biosciences to develop spectral flow cytometry (measurement of cells) products in C# and C++.

O'Donnell holds a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin and two bachelor’s degrees in physics and computer science from the University of Washington. Quick quiz: How do you pronounce UW? Careful, it depends! While enjoying the frigid temperatures of Madison, O'Donnell taught C++ and was ribbed for saying “U-dub” instead of “U-double-U.”