IceCube Data Acquisition System:
Key member of small development team which overhauled an $8M Java-based
data acquisition software system used at the South Pole, for the
acquisition of data from the world's largest neutrino detector,
IceCube. Redesign consisted of a complete reimplementation of the control system in Python
and streamlining the existing Java components, reducing the size of the codebase by 60%,
increasing uptime, and more than doubling the number of channels supported.
Also wrote comprehensive operator documentation for the system.
dor-driver: Created Linux device driver
for DOR (DOm Readout) cards, custom-built communications interface to
embedded Digital Optical Module sensors deployed in the ice at the
South Pole. Driver runs on dual or single core processors and
supports up to 64 DOMs communicating simultaneously.
domapp: Adapted prototype code for DOM
sensors into full-featured embedded application to handle
configuration,
control, and data retrieval tasks. Created supporting
regression test suite and complete documentation package.
AMANDA - pre-2002
String 18: Created Linux device driver
and complete client/server based application set in C and Perl to
configure, test and operate prototype string of DOMs deployed at the
South Pole.
Ph.
D. Thesis: on the design and
implementation of a fully-featured simulation package for describing
and characterizing the detection of muons and neutrinos in deep
Antarctic ice. The simulation included particle interactions, photon attenuation and
scattering, photodetector geometry and the triggering of the aggregate detector.
Data Handling: created a system for
collecting data from the AMANDA detector and shipping data via TDRSS
satellite to northern hemisphere. System is still in use
after eight years.
Data Mining / Filtering: used a
massively-parallel Cray supercomputer at NERSC to reduce a
multi-terabyte data set down to a sample of events enriched in
neutrinos, resulting in the discovery of the first gold-plated neutrino
events discovered by the AMANDA detector.
Curriculum
Vitae with
over 50 publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings
Other Physics Projects (1987-1991)
Aleph (neural network technique to discriminate b-jets
from gluons and light quarks)
HGO (pulsar search)
E735 (simulation of muon tracking chamber)
COS-B (search for bursting of gamma ray emission from
pulsars)
Non-scientific projects
Developed first one-person on-line art gallery (1993).