From PhD candidate to EPCC team member
18 April 2024
Shrey Bhardwaj became an applications developer at EPCC last month, after having first joined us as a PhD student.
Before I started my PhD, I studied Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol. There I became familiar with HPC (high performance computing) from the ‘Intro to HPC’ course run by the Advanced Computing Research Centre (ACRC) at Bristol.
When I applied for a PhD at EPCC, I was interviewed for the topic ‘Researching I/O bottlenecks in HPC applications’ under the ASiMoV Strategic Prosperity Partnership, which is developing the world's first high-fidelity simulation of a complete gas-turbine engine during operation. I was immediately attracted to the subject matter, the opportunity to be in a multi-disciplinary project, and the city of Edinburgh.
I am now in my fourth year of my PhD, and I am currently writing my thesis. Throughout my PhD I have been supported by my supervisors Mark Parsons and Paul Bartholomew, EPCC staff, and fellow students who helped me with all my questions, concerns, and worries. I have been privileged to work with and learn so much from such a diverse and talented cohort. I was also lucky to be working right next to HPC experts who were just a door knock away and who very kindly answered all my questions.
Since March, I have been working as a part-time Application Developer at EPCC. In my first month at EPCC, I developed a Python script which automated the generation of filtered images using Paraview for a multiple time-step simulation. This was an interesting project with a clear visual end-result and it gave me a good intellectual break from my research. It also enabled me to develop an external perspective for my thesis. I look forward to the challenges ahead and cannot wait to start my upcoming projects.
When I first came to the Bayes centre for my PhD interview, I was extremely nervous as I felt that if I got accepted, EPCC and Edinburgh would hold a special meaning in my life and provide me with the space to grow. Four years later, I feel incredibly lucky that I got to study and now work at EPCC and get to live in one of the best cities in the UK.
Links
ASiMOV Strategic Prosperity Partnership at EPCC:
https://www.epcc.ed.ac.uk/about-us/projects/strategic-partnership-computational-science-advanced-simulation-and-modelling
PhD study at EPCC:
https://www.epcc.ed.ac.uk/education-and-training/phd-study