Resume

A PDF is available upon request.

Nicholas A. Danes

Computational Scientist | ndanes@mines.edu

Summary

Computational scientist with over 5 years combined experience in industry and academia:

• Extensive background in the implementation of computational algorithms within existing finite element method codes for mathematical modeling coupled to CFD; modifying computational physics methods with innovative extensions using object oriented and distributed-memory parallel programming

• Experience with developing, building, benchmarking and running codes on high performance computing (HPC) clusters

• On and off-site technical customer support for HPC applications, modeling & simulation projects

• Excellent teamwork through interpersonal communication and interdisciplinary collaboration with experimentalists, mathematicians and engineers

• Flexibility in completing self-conducted review to learn new tools for a project, whether it be a programming language, numerical method or modeling program

Education

Colorado School of Mines, PhD in Computational & Applied Mathematics | December 2019

PhD Advisor: Dr. Karin Leiderman

• Dissertation: Computational modeling of extravascular platelet aggregation under flow
• MATH440 - Parallel Scientific Computing

California State University, Bakersfield, BS in Mathematics - Applied | June 2013

• 3.82 GPA, Magna Cum Laude
• Minor in Computer Science

Work Experience

Computational Scientist
Colorado School of Mines, Information & Technology Solutions (ITS)
August 2020 – Present

• Member of the Cyber Infrastructure & Advanced Research Computing (CIARC) group under ITS where main duties include:
  • Supporting HPC users on technical and non-technical issues with research computing
  • Building, porting and scaling applications & software libraries on Mines’ HPC cluster systems
  • Lead on developing and providing new technical information & user guides for Mines HPC users via CIARC Mines website
  • Participating in internal and external outreach for research computing awareness for campus-wide support

Computational Engineer I
Ball Aerospace & Technologies
September 2019 – August 2020

• Utilized massively parallel coupled multi-physics codes for modeling and simulation
• Aided in code development of a Python written model using object-oriented principles with user documentation in a version control environment (git)
• Conducted parallel scaling studies on massively parallel coupled multiphysics codes to benchmark runtimes and identify solver bottlenecks for specific modeling problems
• Built scientific computing (MPI-enabled) libraries from source on workstation and high-performance computing clusters; provided user documentation on successful builds
• Collaborated with a team of Ball engineers and sub-contractors to develop and verify/validate coupled multiphysics codes

Research Experience

Graduate Student Researcher
Colorado School of Mines, Department of Applied Mathematics & Statistics | August 2016 – 2019
University of California, Merced, Department of Applied Mathematics | August 2014 – 2016

Advisor: Dr. Karin Leiderman | Funding: NIH R01HL120728

• Developed and validated a 2D computational model of extravascular platelet aggregation within the FEniCS software suite; model involves solving a large system of partial differential equations to account for fluid dynamics & platelet aggregation
• Code development includes novel changes to existing numerical algorithms; solved using multiple processing cores on Colorado School of Mines‘ “Mio” high performance computing cluster
• Compared and cross-validated model outputs with microfluidic experiments and reduced-order mathematical models
• Wrote technical reports, papers and presented research at major conferences

Research Intern
National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), Computational Science Center
June – August 2017

Mentors: Drs. H. Sitaraman, J. Stickel & M. A. Sprague | Funding: NSF DMS-155122

• Implemented, and validated a 3D model of lignocellulosic biomass conversion into an existing CFD code
  • Simulations of model were run using the NREL high performance computing cluster “Peregine”
• Presented work at the 2017 APS-DFD conference
• Edited and reviewed manuscript submitted for publication

Undergraduate Researcher
California State University, Chico
June – August 2012

Mentor: Dr. Sergei Fomin | Funding: NSF DMS-1156612 Chico, CA

• Used a combination of perturbation methods, asymptotic analysis and numerical simulation to study rimming flow inside a cylinder
• Collaborated with a teacher and other undergraduate math students with research, writing and presentations

Skills

Computer Skills

Math

• Numerical Solution of Ordinary & Partial Differential Equations, Numerical Anaylsis, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Linear Algebra

Other

• Formal presentations to groups and/or conferences, technical writing
• Interdisciplinary communication for research projects, papers, and presentations