Hello internet friends! Like you (most likely), I am a human with particular talents and interests.
They include attaining mastery in C++ and Python 3, designing wind turbine and wind farm controllers for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, working on ***** for Apple, trail marathon training and racing as a vegan athlete, capturing moments with my Canon and generally the psychological and philosophical aspects of doing good and feeling good during the short time we have in this universe.
Come visit my website if you think you might enjoy musings, thoughts and notions on the above topics.
Skills
… applied to system identification and control of wind turbines, wind farms and the *** of certain Apple devices.
Deep Learning
- Recurrent Neural Networks, Convolutional Neural Networks, Artificial Neural Networks applied to reconstruction of dynamic wind fields
Statistical Learning
- Gaussian process regression applied to online estimation of dynamic wind fields for controls purposes
- Sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics (SINDy) regression applied to learning of complex closed-loop control laws
Model Predictive Control
- Stochastic Model Predictive Control applied to wind farm control with online learning of incoming wind field
Robust Control
- H-infinity synthesized full-order controller with constrained actuation for individual pitch control (IPC) of wind turbines
Controller Auto-Tuning procedures
- Iterative Feedback Tuning (IFT), Virtual Reference Feedback Tuning (VRFT), Fictitious Reference Iterative Tuning (FRIT) methods applied to implement auto-tuning procedures for an unknown, black-box system privy to uncharacterized disturbances
Reinforcement Learning
- Multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithm applied to control of floating offshore wind farms with stochastic turbine location and turbine outages
Python 3, MATLAB, C++
- Coding in Python for 12 years now – special interest in high-performance Python, concurrency, and parallelism with a penchant for well-written examples and beautiful plots
- Coding in MATLAB/Simulink for 7 years – use for large datasets and control systems
- Coding in C++ for 2 years – use when interacting with embedded systems at Apple
High-Performance Computing
- University of Colorado Research Computing Supercomputer, based on SLURM, to run learning and training tasks across nodes
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory Eagle/Kestrel supercomputer to run computationally-intensive large eddy simulations (LESs)
Work Experience
Software Engineer, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (2023 – Present)
Platform Architecture Engineer, Apple Inc. (2023)
Research Engineer, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (2022)
Data Analytics Engineer, Smart Grid Energy Systems, EKZ (2019 – 2020)
Research Engineer, Computational Geoscience & Engineering, Imperial College London (2018)
Research Engineer, Marine Physical Laboratory, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (2016 – 2017)
Education
PhD Candidate, University of Colorado Boulder & National Renewable Energy Laboratory (2021- Present, due to graduate in December 2024)
MSc Energy Science & Technology, ETH Zürich (2018 – 2021)
BEng Electrical Engineering, University of College Dublin & University of California San Diego (2014 – 2018)
Awards
CU Boulder Europe-Colorado Exchange Scholar (2020 – 2021)
ETH Zürich Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity Programme (ESOP) Scholar (2018 – 2021).
University College Dublin Ad Astra Academic Scholar (2014 – 2018)
University of California (UCSD) Provost Honours Award (2016 – 2017)
‘Teach na Gaeilge’ (translates to ‘Irish Language Home’) Irish Language Scholar (2015 – 2016)
Fun facts
I fluently speak the (almost dead) Irish language (Gaelic), and the (very alive) German language
I run, and sometimes win, trail marathons in Colorado and cover up to 100 miles/week by foot to train for them around the foothills and bike paths of Boulder.
I started coding in my early teens with a non-profit club called Coder Dojo, and swiftly progressed to teaching the younger children how to code on a voluntary basis. I continue to derive joy from sharing interesting ways Python can be used and abused.
I went through an ultra-cycling phase in my early-twenties, and once cycled 600 miles of distance with 15 miles of elevation across the Pyrenees in 4 days, among other silly bike tours that I don’t regret, but would never recommend.
I can make any piece of bark look beautiful through the lens of my Canon.