Researcher in Physics & Astronomy
What is your Academic background and current research field?
I am a postdoctoral research associate working on gravitational wave source modelling and data analysis. I am a member of the LIGO Scientific and LISA collaborations, and am currently the co-chair of the LIGO Waveforms Sub-Working Group. I obtained my PhD from Cardiff University, originally working on probes of non-Gaussianity in large scale structure. After my PhD I did a postdoc at the University of Sussex working on lensing of the cosmic microwave background and modified theories of gravity. I then made the change of gravitational waves when I moved to Palma de Mallorca for a postdoctoral position at the University of the Balearic Islands.
Which BEAR Services have been most helpful to you in your research?
I have mostly been using the BlueBEAR HPC resources to perform numerical relativity simulations and to perform data analysis on LIGO observations. I will also be gearing up to use the Gitlab services and RDS. The ever-growing GPU services will be of interest in future machine learning projects and adapting current data analysis pipelines to run on GPUs.
How widespread do you think BEAR Services are known in your School and how do you plan to spread the word?
BEAR resources are widely used by the gravitational wave group in Birmingham. After the summer break, there are plans to launch group-specific support sessions to get new PhD students and postdocs familiar with BEAR resources. Updates on new developments and research performed on BEAR will be a regular feature in future group meetings.
How can researchers in your School/College contact you?
Using my University email address, g.pratten@bham.ac.uk, is the quickest way.
What's an interesting fact about you?
I enjoy scuba diving and was lucky enough to learn to scuba dive in Mauritius.