PhD Student in Physics and Astronomy
What is your research background and current field of research?
I am currently a PhD student in the Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy under the supervision of Dr Geraint Pratten. My research focuses on understanding the two-body problem in General Relativity and alternative theories of gravity. I primarily focus on modelling binary black hole mergers using theoretical and numerical techniques, while also performing data analysis on gravitational wave observations within the LIGO scientific collaboration.
Which BEAR Services have been most helpful to you in your research?
I have used BlueBEAR extensively to perform numerical relativity simulations of binary black hole systems to give insight into the full non-linear character of General Relativity. Recently, I have started running Bayesian inference pipelines on simulated and real gravitational wave data, using both the CPU and GPU partitions. Datasets generated from these runs are kept in the Research Data Store.
How widespread do you think BEAR Services are known in your school and how do you plan to spread the word?
BlueBEAR is widely used across the Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy. Early career researchers are encouraged to take advantage of the training opportunities offered by BEAR. With the transition of many codes to GPU architectures, the NVIDIA training opportunities are of increasing interest to members of the group. Announcements of such sessions will be distributed frequently to the group (via communication platforms and group meetings), among other updates from BEAR.
How can researchers in your school/college contact you?
I can be reached by email at sxs2159@student.bham.ac.uk
What's an interesting fact about you?
I was lucky enough to play in a full 90-minute football match at the Liberty Stadium, home of Swansea City FC (who were in the Premier League at the time).