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Robert Nicholson is an American software engineer, entrepreneur, and academic who has held leadership roles at several major technology companies and startups in Silicon Valley. He is currently a lecturer at San Jose State University (SJSU), where he teaches in the Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Applied Data Science departments.

Early Life and Education

Nicholson earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (with Honors in English) from California State University, Chico. He subsequently received a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (Computer Engineering option) from Stanford University. He also completed formal management training programs at Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, and Silicon Graphics.

Career in Technology

Corporate Leadership

Throughout his career, Nicholson held senior engineering management positions at several prominent technology firms:

Sun Microsystems: Served as Senior Manager and Acting Director, where he managed over 50 engineers and a budget exceeding $8 million. He led the transition of the CORBA engineering group to focus on Internet Service Provider (ISP) products, overseeing the release of the "Solaris for ISPs" package.
Oracle Corporation: As Director of Multimedia Software, he established a department to integrate multimedia data types—including image, audio, and video—into Oracle products. He also managed the development of "Oracle Book," an online document distribution product that generated $8.5 million in its first year.
IDS (SGI / AT&T Joint Venture): Managed a distributed team of engineers in three geographic locations and Japan, overseeing the development of an interactive TV system supporting e-commerce and parental controls.
Hewlett-Packard: Early in his career, he served as a Senior Member of Technical Staff (MTS), where he developed programmer tools and a "transaction by example" language for transaction-oriented applications.

Startups and Entrepreneurship

Nicholson has co-founded and led several venture-funded and independent startups:

LunaGraphica Inc.: Co-founder and VP of Technology. He pivoted the company’s focus from graphic design to web design and development and transitioned it to a fully remote model in 2014.
Ratingz Inc.: Co-founder and VP of Operations, where he established processes for launching vertical rating-and-review sites.
InterSurvey: Served as VP of Engineering, leading the development of core technologies for a panel of over 50,000 households participating in web-based consumer surveys.
Red Herring: Following its acquisition of StockMaster.com (where he was also VP of Engineering), Nicholson managed the combined engineering organization and implemented Agile/DevOps processes.

Academic and Professional Service

As a lecturer at San Jose State University, Nicholson has taught a variety of upper-division and graduate courses, including Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (CMPE 135), Compiler Design (CMPE 152), System Software (CMPE 220), and Mathematical Methods for Data Analytics (DATA 220).

He has also served in the following roles:

Consumer Bankruptcy Counseling: Developed the first expert system for online bankruptcy counseling, which was approved by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2008.
KBR Inc. (NASA Ames): Served as Project Librarian for the F6 project, defining the content organization for a satellite network communication system.

Publications and Interests

Nicholson is an amateur historian and a member of the California Missions Foundation. He is the author of several books and guides, including:

The Three Rs of SEO: Core Principles Workbook (2025)
California Mission Guide, 2nd Edition (2024)
Effective Websites for Artists and Art Groups (2006, 2nd ed. 2010)

He has also published numerous technical papers in journals such as ACM Transactions on Office Information Systems and Byte Magazine.

Websites

He also owns and operates several websites, including: