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JOHNSTONDR RUSSELL

I am an astrophysicist with over 6 years research experience seeking to transition to data science roles within industry. I am passionate about sc ience and creat ive problem solving having published in major journals on a wide variety of topics within astrophysics and cosmology. My main focus has centred on developing novel statistical algorithms, primarily in Python, Fortran and Matlab, to analyse, model and visualise data. I have led several collaborations developing non-parametric and Bayesian algorithms, as well as applying Monte Carlos methods to c rea te s imu la ted da ta and distinguish between competing models.

+27 (0) 79 900 2235

RWI.JOHNSTON@GMAIL.COM

HTTPS://UK.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/RUSSELLWJOHNSTON

VALIDATION ENGINEERBIORELIANCE BITOECHGlasgow, UK2002-2006

• Calibration, validation and maintenance of laboratory equipment.• Environmental monitoring.• Establishing new standard operating procedures (SOP) according

to GMP and GLP standards. • Team leader.

RESEARCH FELLOWUNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPECape Town, RSA2009-present

• Square Kilometre Array (SKA) postdoctoral researcher. • World class research developing frequentist and bayesian

statistical algorithms to probe galaxy evolution and cosmology.• Led several international collaborations.• Published in major journals.• Mentoring of Masters students.• Lecturing, developing and maintaining the group website.• Volunteer work including: public talks, teaching in underprivileged

schools, organising astronomy public night sky viewing evenings.

SKILLS• Data analysis/modelling• Bayesian inference• Frequentist statistics• Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques• High performance computing (HPC)• Numerical analysis• Linear regression• Scientific writing• Public speaking!

PROGRAMMING• Python (matplotlib, numpy,

pandas, scikit)• Fortran 77/95• Matlab• OpenMP• COSMOMC• MULTINEST• Bash/tcsh• C• html• Microsoft excel

KSTATPROJECT:

Co-developed software implementing kd-tree algorithms to provide an easy framework for cosmologists to quickly scale their applications to a distributed multiprocessor environment. Optimised for large data-sets to compute: !• the angular and spatial 2- and 3-point correlation functions,• the anisotropic 2PCF decomposed in sigma-pi,• estimation of errors through bootstrapping or jackknifing.

https://bitbucket.org/csabiu/kstat

(Fortran)

ROBUSTPROJECT: https://github.com/russelljohnston/ROBUST

Led a team to develop robust, non-parametric approaches to probe completeness and galaxy evolution by exploiting correlations between observed properties of galaxies. Published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.!• http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703040

(Python & Fortran)

Led a team to develop a Bayesian reconstruction algorithm to extract spatial maps of the gravitation field on the largest scales of the Universe from extremely noisy data. Published in General Relativity and Gravitation. !• http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.1203 !

PROJECT:COSMIC GRAVITY(Python & Fortran)

Nationality : BRITISH

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JOHNSTON RUSSELL

PhDGLASGOW UNIVERSITYGlasgow, UK2006-2009

ST. ANDREWS UNIVERSITYSt. Andrews, UK1995-1999

STATISTICAL ASTRONOMY

Developing robust non-parametric methods to probe completeness and evolution in galaxy-redshift surveys.

ASTROPHYSICSMaster in Physics (Hons)

Cape Town, RSA2015

UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE

!• I am currently on a newly formed committee to organise and roll

out a pilot voluntary outreach programme to give a series of astronomy lessons to underprivileged secondary schools within the Cape Town area.

OUTREACH COMMITTEE

Cape Town, RSA2012

SOUTH AFRICAN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY

PUBLIC TALK• As part of the ongoing series of outreach activities organised at

the SAAO, I volunteered to give a presentation to the general public on our current understanding of how the Universe has evolved.

Cape Town, RSA2010-2011

UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE

ASTRONOMY NIGHT SKY VIEWINGS• I co-organised astronomy evenings on the university campus

where we would set up telescopes and teach participants about planets, stars, constellations, nebulae and galaxies. These evenings were available to both students and the general public, and participants often come from a diverse range of social and cultural backgrounds.

Glasgow, UK2007

UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

1st YEAR PHD PRIZE• Awarded by the Department of Physics & Astronomy

Glasgow, UK2006

UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

BELLAHOUSTAN SCHOLARSHIP

Currently enrol led courses:Machine Learning

R Programming

The Data Scientist’s Toolboxhttps://www.coursera.org/course/rprog

https://www.coursera.org/learn/machine-learning

https://www.coursera.org/course/datascitoolbox

Cape Town, RSA2011-2015

SKA FELLOWSHIPUNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE