NEW to Berkeley Lab Computing Sciences Team
 |
 |
September 30, 2009
 |
| Aleksander Donev |
Aleksandar Donev, Alvarez Fellow
Aleksandar Donev's interest in scientific computing sparked in high school after a science competition challenged him to write a molecular dynamics code. He's been hooked ever since. Now he joins the Berkeley Lab Computing Sciences as a prestigious 2009 Luis W. Alvarez Postdoctoral Fellow.
As an Alvarez fellow, Donev will spend the next year designing, implementing and applying algorithms for modeling fluctuating hydrodynamics with the CRD's Center for Computational Sciences and Engineering (CSEE), which is headed by John Bell.
Originally from The Republic of Macedonia, Donev came to the United States for his undergraduate education at Michigan State University (MSU).
"I specifically became interested in HPC when I was a sophomore, after I joined the heavily computational research group of Dr. Phil Duxbury and became a teaching assistant for a computational physics course sequence," says Donev.
After earning an undergraduate degree in physics from MSU, he migrated east to attend graduate school at Princeton University where he eventually earned a doctorate in Applied and Computational Mathematics. Since then, he has spent three years as a Lawrence Fellow in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Chemistry and Materials Science Directorate and served as a member of both the International and U.S. committees for the Fortran programming language.
"While at LLNL, I collaborated extensively with John Bell and really enjoyed the research and the atmosphere at Berkeley Lab. This experience is what convinced me to apply for the Alvarez fellowship," says Donev, who likes to spend his weekends hiking, camping and traveling around Northern California with his partner and friends.
He also enjoys ballroom and Balkan dancing, jogging, biking, yoga and cooking. Upon completing the Alvarez Fellowship in August of 2010, Donev will move to New York City to begin a tenure track position at the New York Universitys Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.
 |
| Nick Wright |
Nick Wright, NERSC System Architecture Group
As the newest member of NERSC's Science-Driven System Architecture Group, Nick Wright will evaluate future technologies for potential application in scientific computing. Though Wright officially started at NERSC on August 24, he is no stranger to the center.
"In the past, I had the opportunity to interact with several NERSC staff members, notably David Skinner on the Integrated Performance Monitoring (IPM) project and John Shalf on a procurement effort. I enjoyed these interactions so much that when the opportunity came to join the team at NERSC I jumped at it," says Wright.
In addition to his new duties, Wright will continue collaborating with Skinner on the IPM project, which is a portable profiling infrastructure for parallel codes. Funded by the National Science Foundation, IPM provides a low-overhead performance profile of the performance aspects and resource utilization in a parallel program.
Before NERSC, Wright was a member of the Performance Modeling and Characterization (PMaC) group at the San Diego Supercomputing Center where he was involved in the procurement of new machines and understanding high performance computing issues.
Originally from England, Wright earned both his undergraduate and doctorate degrees in chemistry at the University of Durham. He began his career as a computational chemist using high performance computers to calculate the interactions between molecules.
"Over time I found myself enjoying the computational part more and more, which lead me to switching career paths," says Wright.
When he is not working or playing with his two-year-old son, Wright enjoys cycling and reading.
 |
| Christopher Calderon |
Christopher Calderon, Scientific Computing Group
This month, Christopher Calderon joins CRD's Scientific Computing Group as a visiting postdoctoral fellow working on numerical linear algebra relating to nuclear physics.
"I first learned of Berkeley Lab as an undergrad. The opportunity to live and work in the Bay Area, as well as the proximity to UC Berkeley and potential for various collaborations were the big draws for me," says Calderon.
He was initially introduced to high performance computing as a graduate student at Princeton University pursuing a doctorate degree in chemical engineering. Much of his research and graduate work involved computational statistical methods that involved a variety of HPC tools.
"From this experience, I realized that there was a strong disconnect between physical sciences, statistics, and scientific computing. After observing this in several situations, I decided that I would like to help in better linking these areas together," says Calderon.
After Princeton, Calderon received the National Institute of Health Nanobiology Training Grant Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct interdisciplinary research at Rice University.
Originally from Indiana and the Greater Chicago Land Area, Calderon is really enjoying Northern California. On his spare time, he likes to read, travel, run, lift weights and watch interesting films.
 |
| Hans Johansen |
Hans Johansen, Applied Numerical Algorithms Group
As a software developer in the Applied Numerical Algorithms Group, Hans Johansen plans to bring this results focused view of applied research to CRD. Before starting his Berkeley Lab post on September 1, Johansen served as the Chief Architect of Global Infrastructure at JPMorgan Chase where he led technology projects that focused on strategic programs and innovative technology delivery.
"Whenever I used IT on business problems, I always found that the 'latest' technology was something that had been available to researchers 10-years prior. So I'm back in research now for that open-minded investigation of what's possible, not just what's cheapest and easiest," says Johansen.
He arrived in Berkeley more than 20-years ago to attend the University of California, Berkeley. He completed both his undergraduate and graduate education at UCB, researching numerical methods for solving partial differential equations. Johansen spends his spare time with his wife and five year old. Aside from that he is a compulsive house remodeler, enjoys exercising, food and getting involved with his community.
