Research Computing Centre - The University of Queensland, Australia Skip to main content UQ Home Contacts Study Maps News Events Library my.UQ The University of Queensland Research Computing CentreResearch Computing Centre Site search Search Homepage Site menu Home Core Technologies High Performance Computing Cloud computing Workflow Nimrod Kepler Galaxy Genomics Virtual Lab Data Management Visualisation Infrastructure High Performance Computing Awoonga FlashLite Tinaroo Wiener RCC Active Changes (UQ only) RCC Active Incidents (UQ only) RCC User Guides (UQ only) External resources Cloud computing Data storage Characterisation Virtual Laboratory Themes Media & Events News Newsletters Events Upcoming seminars RCC seminars RCC presentations Media mentions About RCC's Mission Research impact The RCC team Governance RCC Fellows Student internships in the RCC QURPA QURPA trip report 2020—Edward Davis QURPA trip report 2020—Aviral Kailash Jain QURPA Trip Report 2019 QURPA Trip Report 2016 QURPA Trip Reports 2015 QURPA 2020: Using machine learning to detect falls Acknowledging RCC Contact Support Training Meetups Support Desk Service Status FAQS The RCC team Management and administration Professor David Abramson Director, Research Computing Centre david.abramson@uq.edu.au David has been involved in computer architecture and high performance computing research since 1979. He has held appointments at Griffith University, CSIRO, RMIT and Monash University. Prior to joining UQ, he was the Director of the Monash e-Education Centre, Science Director of the Monash e-Research Centre, and a Professor of Computer Science in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash. From 2007 to 2011 he was an Australian Research Council Professorial Fellow. David has expertise in High Performance Computing, distributed and parallel computing, computer architecture and software engineering. He has produced in excess of 200 research publications, and some of his work has also been integrated in commercial products. One of these, Nimrod, has been used widely in research and academia globally, and is also available as a commercial product, called EnFuzion, from Axceleon. His world-leading work in parallel debugging is sold and marketed by Cray Inc, one of the world's leading supercomputing vendors, as a product called ccdb. David is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), and the Australian Computer Society (ACS). From 2016–2019 he was a visiting Professor in the Oxford e-Research Centre at the University of Oxford. Jake Carroll Chief Technology Officer, Research Computing Centre jake.carroll@uq.edu.au Jake has been involved in advanced and high-performance computing since his post-grad’ in computer science in 2004. He has held appointments in health, defence and the tertiary education and research sector in consultancy, technical and senior management roles. Jake has maintained long-standing senior technical management appointments inside the University of Queensland research institutes cluster (AIBN, QBI, IMB) as a strategic advisor to research enablement through advanced computing infrastructure and services. From 2017 to 2019, Jake was Associate Director of Research Computing for UQ’s institutes. His primary experience is within high-performance and accelerated computing, computer architecture, design and performance optimisation of hardware and software systems. He has specialist knowledge in storage engineering and design. Jake has been responsible for the architecture and design of UQ’s most advanced storage and supercomputing infrastructure initiatives as well as advisory to several national initiatives involving federated storage and cloud computing design. Jake is a TOGAF practitioner, UQ post-grad’ alumnus (UQ MBA, 2019), and is a graduate of computer science—a postgraduate in HCI [human computer interaction] design and graphical interface cognition from Southern Cross University (2004). He has held various board appointments for state government advisory initiatives in Artificial Intelligence infrastructure. Jake is a current member of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Dr David Green HPC Manager, Research Computing Centre david.green@uq.edu.au David majored in physics and applied mathematics at UQ and his first real science job was in environmental modelling for the Queensland Electricity Commission. David completed a PhD at the University of Sydney on electrochromic switchable window coatings for buildings. He feels that his choice of obscure thesis topic has been vindicated since buying a car with an auto-dimming rear vision mirror and learning that the Boeing 787 Dreamliners have switchable windows instead of shutter blinds. He worked as an academic in the Applied Physics and Computer Systems departments at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) for almost 15 years. His commitment to fostering student learning was recognised in various forums, such as a UTS Teaching Excellence Award in 1997, and a Computer Systems Department Teaching Award in 2003. David career-changed into research computing support roles and joined The University of Queensland as HPC Manager within ITS in 2007. He has long been using computers to "figure stuff out" and enjoys working with researchers to help them do the same. Fran Moore Administration Officer rcc-admin@uq.edu.au Fran joined the Research Computing Centre in late 2012, after spending the previous 13 years at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada. Fran brings with her more than 15 years of experience in senior administration and management positions within the university sector, and CSIRO. In her role as RCC’s Administration Officer, Fran provides day-to-day operations support to the Director and Centre staff. Shannon Lindsay Communications Consultant s.lindsay@uq.edu.au Shannon joined the RCC in early 2015 as a communications consultant to handle the Centre’s marketing material, website, social media and public relations. She was previously Communications Officer at the Australian National Data Service, and prior to that, Communications Officer at Monash University’s e-Education Centre. She has more than 10 years’ experience working as a journalist in television and newspapers. BioScience and bio-imaging Dr Igor Makunin Researcher Training and User Support: Galaxy Australia i.makunin@uq.edu.au Expertise: Igor has extensive experience in analysis of next-generation sequencing data, comparative genomics, genetics and molecular biology. He provides support for biologists working with next-gen' sequencing data on the Galaxy platform. Background: Igor has worked as a scientist at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, The University of Queensland, Institute of Cytology and Genetics (Novosibirsk, Russia), the University of Geneva and the University of Cambridge. Dr Jeff Christiansen Program Manager, NCRIS-funded Health & Life Sciences Data Projects (RCC/QCIF) j.christiansen@uq.edu.au Expertise: Jeff has a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Queensland, and started his career conducting research in the fields of cancer, molecular genetics and embryo development in both Australia and the UK, prior to moving into the management of large biological data assets (gene sequence, images, etc.) through the establishment of EMAGE, a UK-based international database of gene expression and anatomy. Background: Prior to joining RCC, Jeff was based at Intersect Australia in Sydney where he was the National Manager of the RDS-funded med.data.edu.au project and also responsible for a number of biology-focused data and IT-related projects across NSW (biobanking, omics, etc.). Prior to this, he was based in Melbourne at the Australian National Data Service (ANDS), where he was involved in commissioning and monitoring a number of biology/medicine-focused national data management projects. Dr Nick Hamilton IMB Institute Bio-Mathematician and eResearch Analyst (RCC/QCIF) n.hamilton@imb.uq.edu.au Expertise: Nick is a natural collaborator and works with biologists, mathematicians, computer scientists and others to develop methodologies and tools in mathematical modelling, machine learning, automated classification, graph algorithms, data visualisation and clustering, image segmentation, quantification, feature extraction, and inference from bio-imaging. He has developed and released a wide range of bioinformatic methods and software such as OBCOL for segmentation and colocalisation analysis of 3D multi-fluorophore microscopy imaging, ASPiC for automated image classification of subcellular imaging, EEEP for detection of lateral gene transfer events, Possum for protein structure prediction, and iCluster, a visualisation and clustering tool for high-throughput subcellular imaging. He also leads the Visible Cell project that aims to inform advances in silico studies of cell and molecular organisation in 3D. Currently he is helping to coordinate the RCC’s biosciences program. Background: Nick trained as a mathematician at the University of Western Australia and has held research positions in mathematics, computer science and computational biology in Australia and overseas. He is an author on more than 70 research articles in leading journals such Nature Cell Biology, Nature Methods, Nature Protocols, Developmental Cell, EMBO, BMC Bioinformatics and Journal of Theoretical Biology, and has been awarded several competitive Fellowships, and more than $2.7m in competitive grants. He was also awarded the Kirkman Medal for his contributions to mathematics. Prior to his recent co-appointment at RCC, he was a Laboratory Head at UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience for five years, where he continues to lead a computational biology group specialising in mathematical modelling, data visualisation and bio-image informatics. Visualisation Oliver Cairncross eResearch Analyst and Visualisation Specialist (RCC/QCIF/Faculty of EAIT) o.cairncross@uq.edu.au Expertise: Oliver has a broad range of expertise in scientific visualisation. He can generate static, interactive and animated visualisations from a wide range of sources such as scientific instruments, and various types of imaging and computational models. He has experience in areas including surface reconstruction, image analysis, temporal data as well as non-numerical data. Background: Oliver has ten years’ experience in scientific visualisation with a focus on developing techniques for interactive analysis of data and models. He has served as project manager for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics, managing software development underpinning the Visible Cell — a multidisciplinary project to explore mammalian cells in 3D. Since joining the RCC, he has been involved in a diverse range of disciplines, including engineering, the sciences and arts. Phone: 07 334 64223 Molecular Science Dr Marlies Hankel Senior Development and Consultation Manager (RCC) and eResearch Analyst (QCIF) m.hankel@uq.edu.au Expertise: Marlies is an expert in HPC computing and DFT calculations for applications in computational nanotechnology and nano materials design. Background: Marlies is a computational scientist with a background in mathematics, programming, quantum molecular dynamics and HPC cluster management. Imaging Dr Edan Scriven QRIScloud Operations Engineer rcc-support@uq.edu.au Expertise: Edan’s current expertise is in systems development and operations, with a focus on cloud-based and other virtualised environments. His skill-set features an in-depth "full stack" knowledge of the cloud resources RCC manages, including service deployment, resource monitoring, orchestration, federation to offsite services, system administration, fault diagnosis, and customer support (including consultation on customers' workflows). Background: Edan’s background varies between IT and Science. He has previously worked in a variety of IT roles, including level one user support, web and database development, electronic publishing, and earlier roles performed for RCC, such as user support and documentation for our HPC systems. Edan studied Physics and Mathematics, eventually receiving his PhD in Physics. This is how he came to develop skills in HPC systems (i.e. initially as a user). Digital Humanities and Social Sciences Alvin Sebastian Software Developer, Digital Humanities and Social Sciences a.sebastian@uq.edu.au Expertise: Alvin will work for RCC two days per week with full funding from UQ’s School of Architecture and School of Languages and Cultures to work as a software developer on their digital projects. One project is to develop a platform for linguistics researchers to carry out combinations of searches through transcripts of conversations with an easy-to-use graphical interface. This will be part of a future language data commons the school wants to build in collaboration with other language analytics researchers from around Australia. Another project is to create a crowd-sourcing website where people can upload images and information about heritage-listed properties in the National Trust of Queensland. Alvin will work on these and other projects until the end of 2020. Background: Alvin has more than 10 years of experience in full stack web development and delivery of IT products and services in general. Previously, he worked as Data Services Engineer for the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), where he developed software to store, manage and access a wide range of ecological data. He also deployed, managed and maintained servers that run various websites and data services. Jonathan Hadwen Web Developer, Digital Humanities and Social Sciences j.hadwen@uq.edu.au Expertise: Jonathan works for RCC part-time to maintain and support a range of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) digital projects and infrastructure at UQ. He is co-funded by RCC, UQ’s HASS faculty and the School of Communication and Arts. He works with UQ HASS academics, offering help with business analysis and setting up prototype platforms. He fixes software bugs, adds new features, migrates platforms on external systems to UQ and QCIF infrastructure, archives dormant or retired infrastructure, responds to user questions and issues, and helps plan for future technical work. He also helps co-design digital solutions from inception to ensure they are cost-effective and well positioned for long-term support. Background: Jonathan is the Lead Developer on AustLit, a UQ-supported online encyclopaedia of Australian writers and writing. He is also a writer and poet. Core Technologies Aguido Horatio Davis QRIScloud Systems Engineer a.davis2@uq.edu.au Expertise: Horatio specialises in Linux systems integration and administration, Unix systems and web programming (Python, C, Fortran, SQL, PHP, Javascript), software architecture and distributed algorithms. Background: Horatio graduated in 2000 from Griffith University with first-class honours and majors in physics, computer science, supercomputing, applied mathematics and statistics. He has spent the last five years as principal systems programmer at the UQ Business School. Prior to that he spent three semesters at the UQ Library, and before that, five years as principal research programmer and earth sciences research assistant at the Center for Water in the Minerals Industry in UQ's Sustainable Minerals Institute. Ashley Wright Senior Systems Administrator ashley.wright@uq.edu.au Expertise: Ashley has extensive expertise in HPC systems, large data management and code optimisation. He also has experience in systems/service management and monitoring, networking and Linux programming. Background: Prior to joining RCC, Ashley helped researchers with HPC and data analysis at QUT for more than 15 years. He has degrees in both Information Technology (software engineering and networking) and Mathematics (computational, statistics and finance). Dr Hoang Nguyen Systems Programmer rcc-support@uq.edu.au Expertise: Systems architecture, scientific computing, Java, Python, databases, Nimrod, Kepler scientific workflow Background: Hoang received a Bachelor Degree with Honours in Software Engineering from Monash University in 2009. He is completing his PhD, which is to design new ways to interact with Kepler workflows running behind a science gateway. Besides this, he is currently working as a casual systems programmer for RCC, specially for the CoESRA project— a Web-based virtual desktop platform. Mark Endrei QRIScloud Systems Engineer, ITEE PhD Candidate mark.endrei@uq.edu.au Expertise: IT service design, integration, and planning, including Cloud XaaS services. Mark's PhD subject area is energy efficient high performance computing. Background: Mark has a Bachelor of Engineering (H1) in Computer Systems Engineering from RMIT. He has more than 20 years' IT industry experience, working with large corporations both nationally and internationally. Martin Nicholls Specialist Systems Programmer rcc-support@uq.edu.au Expertise: Martin has extensive expertise in HPC systems operation, batch systems and large data management. He also has experience in High Available Systems including HA clustering, disaster management, systems and service monitoring and management. Background: Martin has a Masters degree in scientific software design with application to engineering (CFD and Finite Element). His background is in electronics, computing and communication. He has experience in computer hardware maintenance, design of computer interfaces and embedded systems, systems integration and networking. Michael Mallon QRIScloud Systems Administrator rcc-support@uq.edu.au Expertise: Visualisation, Imaging, Python, Puppet, Openstack, C/C++, Java, OpenMPI, OpenMP, PBS, Communication, Databases, High Availability and finding solutions. Background: Michael is a graduate of UQ holding a BSc Hons (Physics) and a BE Hons (Software). His previous role with the RCC was as a technical assistant providing support to HPC and cloud users. Before joining the RCC, Michael worked as a laboratory tutor for the School of Physics at UQ. Zane van Iperen Software Developer rcc-support@uq.edu.au Expertise: C, C++, Java, Python, DevOps, Ansible, Terraform, Linux, Nimrod, Databases and LaTeX. Background: Zane joined RCC full-time after he graduated with honours from UQ's School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. In 2016, he worked on a RCC optimisation workflow project as his thesis for his honours degree. In early 2017, he undertook a research internship with Dr Timoleon Kipouros of Cambridge University's Department of Engineering as part of RCC’s Queensland Undergraduate Research Projects Abroad (QURPA) program. Since then, at RCC, he has been primarily working on the Nimrod Distributed Computation Toolkit. RCC's Mission Research impact The RCC team Governance RCC Fellows Student internships in the RCC QURPA QURPA trip report 2020—Edward Davis QURPA trip report 2020—Aviral Kailash Jain QURPA Trip Report 2019 QURPA Trip Report 2016 QURPA Trip Reports 2015 QURPA 2020: Using machine learning to detect falls Acknowledging RCC © The University of Queensland Enquiries: +61 7 3365 1111 | Contact directory ABN: 63 942 912 684 | CRICOS Provider No: 00025B Emergency Phone: 3365 3333 Privacy & Terms of use | Feedback | Updated: 23 Jul 2021 Login
