Nathaniel R. Stickley

Software Engineer - Astrophysicist - Data Scientist

Experience

Software Application Developer Senior: Oct 2023 – present
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) Associate: Oct 2016 – Sept 2023
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
  • Currently working on data analysis pipeline software for the Euclid mission.
Assistant Project Scientist Jul 2014 – Sep 2016
Department of Physics & Astronomy
UC Riverside
  • Created NebulOS, a Big Data framework that allows users to easily perform large-scale data analysis, with pre-existing analysis software.
  • Greatly improved the performance, scalability, flexibility, robustness, and fidelity of the photometric redshift estimation pipeline for the SPHEREx project (working on-site at Caltech). For instance, the new pipeline is nearly 10x faster per-thread and it seamlessly scales to an arbitrary number of computing nodes.
  • Instructed students in the usage of Apache Spark during UCR's first Big Data Workshop.
  • Built a Linux-based computing cluster for testing NebulOS and other Big Data tools.
Graduate Student Researcher / Visiting Assistant Researcher Sep 2011 – Mar 2014
Department of Physics & Astronomy
UC Riverside
  • Developed GSnap—an advanced analysis and visualization tool for galaxy simulations.
  • Performed galaxy merger simulations on supercomputers.
  • Analyzed the dynamical evolution of galaxy merger simulations.
  • Built a 24-core GNU/Linux workstation to perform computational work on campus.
  • Trained workstation users to effectively use SMP and NUMA hardware.
  • Created the website, astro.ucr.edu, for astrophysics faculty, students, and postdocs.
  • Mentored an undergraduate computer engineering student.
Assistant Instructor Summer 2011
Department of Physics & Astronomy
UC Riverside
  • Taught Physics For Scientists and Engineers, part I (Classical Mechanics).
  • Supervised three teaching assistants.
  • I was the first physics graduate student at UC Riverside to teach a course as an Assistant Instructor.
Teaching Assistant Sep 2008 – Jun 2011
Department of Physics & Astronomy
UC Riverside
  • Taught introductory physics lab courses.
  • Led physics and astronomy discussions and review sessions.
  • Graded quizzes, homework assignments, lab reports, and exams.
Graduate Research Assistant Jun 2007 – May 2008
School of Computational Sciences and Informatics
George Mason University
Developed the magnetosphere modeling code, OpenConvection.
Physics Teacher Aug 2005 – Jun 2007
Oakton High School
Fairfax County Public Schools
  • Taught standard High School Physics and Conceptual Physics.
  • Evaluated the progress of approximately 100 students each year.
Nathaniel R. Stickley
nrs@nrstickley.com
626-269-9830