Chris Joel

Web Technologies · Systems Programming · Computer Graphics

Multi-disciplinary Research Engineer with deep expertise in web browser technologies, systems programming, and decentralized protocols. Passionate about advancing the fundamental capabilities of the web platform through innovative runtime architectures, immersive interfaces, and user-sovereign computing paradigms.

Professional Timeline

Subconscious · Co-founder & CTO, 2021—2024

  • Architected Noosphere, a "protocol for thought" combining immutable data structures with public key cryptography to enable user-sovereign web applications
  • Primary author of the Rust implementation of UCANs (User Controlled Authorization Networks) across multiple major spec revisions
  • Designed and implemented decentralized content addressing, DHT-based name resolution, and cryptographic authorization systems
  • Built production systems handling immutable data structures, IPFS integration, and WebAssembly-based sandboxing

Google · Software Engineer, 2015—2021

  • Core contributor to the Polymer and Lit projects
  • Contributor to Google Chrome browser
  • Standards advocate for emerging proposals within WhatWG and Khronos Group
  • Speaker and developer advocate at Polymer Conferences, Chrome Dev Summit and Google I/O
  • Implemented the Material Design Ripple as used in most major Google products (patent US D985580 S)
  • Led development of <model-viewer>, a web component for embedding interactive 3D models deployed across millions of web pages

Cloudflare · Founding Engineer, 2010—2012

  • Major contributor to core web performance and app platform features
  • Launched product publicly with second place finish at Tech Crunch Disrupt 2010
  • Invented novel mechanism for modifying websites via reverse proxy (patent US 8549479 B2)
  • Invented novel automatic performance optimization techniques (patent US 8566787 B2)

Technical Expertise

  • Systems Programming · Rust, WebAssembly, Node.js, Deno, Nix, Build Tooling, Continuous Integration, Containerization, Performance Optimization
  • Web Platform · Web Components, WebGL, WebXR, WebGPU, WebCrypto, WebAuthn, WebRTC, Browser APIs in general, Browser Internals, Standards Processes
  • Cryptography Public Key Infrastructure, Content Addressing, Authorization Schemes, Self-certifying Protocols
  • Graphics Real-time Engines, Physically-based Rendering, GPU Programming, 3D Mathematics, Shader Languages
  • Distributed Systems Database Internals, CRDTs, IPFS, DHTs, Content-Addressable Storage

Selected Patents

  • Display Screen With Animated Graphical User Interface, US D985580 S, 2023
  • Incorporating Web Applications into Web Pages at the Network Level, US 8549479 B2, 2013
  • Loading of Web Resources, US 8566787 B2, 2012