Education

D. Phil in Zoology, University of Oxford, UK. 2008

Thesis: “Automated tracking and collective behavior in locusts and humans”.

• Quantified interactions and information flow in locust and human groups. Designed and ran experiments. Analyzed experiments using video based tracking to quantify behavior.

MRes in Mathematics in the Living Environment, University of York, UK. 2004

• Learned to apply graduate level mathematical skills to real world problems. Collaborated in a team computer modeling project. Completed external placement in Center for Ecology and Hydrology, Dorset modeling interactions betweens ants and butterflies to explore environmental management strategies.

MMath (Hons) Mathematics and Computer Science, University of York, UK. First Class honors. 2003

• A four year undergraduate Masters degree split 50:50 between math and computer science.

Skills

• Matlab programming
  • Data analysis, modeling and visualization
  • GUIs for tracking
  • Symbolic mathematics
• C and C++:
  • Developed command line tools for batch processing data
  • Used MFC to build a tracking tool which was used to distribute work through Amazon Mechanical Turk.
  • Visualized pedestrian motion models in 3D.
  • Ported models from Matlab
  • Ported event recorder from legacy system to MS Windows
• R
• SPSS
• Experimental design
• Scientific and mathematical writing.
• Applied mathematics: calculus, dynamical systems, linear algebra, probability and statistics.

Work Experience

Oxford Risk Research and Analysis – Research Scientist Oxford, UK 11/2008 – 05/2010

• Designed and ran experiments in public spaces. Developed interfaces for tracking in C++ using Microsoft Foundation Class. Distributed work using Amazon Mechanical Turk and S3. Created system for automated data collection and management. Analyzed data, created behavioral models and visualized data in Matlab. Produced written reports. Worked with biologists, computer vision experts and business people.

Oxford Risk Research and Analysis – Research Scientist, Oxford, UK 01/04/07 – 15/04/07

• Investigated gaze copying in human crowds through experiments and simulations. Designed and implemented the study. Generated a corresponding model of crowd movement. Generated visualizations of the models and data from the study.

University of Oxford - Research Assistant, Oxford, UK. 2004 – 2008

• Analyzed the behavior of locusts in lab based experiments. Designed experiments. Developed multi-object tracking systems to collect the data from experiments. Investigated the relative attractiveness to environmental features and their neighbors in locusts. Analyzed the effect of past experiences on locust marching. Quantified the response of a locust to its nearest neighbor. Applied these analysis techniques to effects of gaze copying in humans.

Sky High Technologies Ltd. – Traffic Surveyor, Yorkshire, UK September 2003

• Gathered accurate data about car movements for analysis to improve traffic layout in Yorkshire, UK.

University of York, Conference aide 02/04/02 – 21/04/02, 02/06/02-22/09/02, 01/06/03 – 03/09/03,

• Responsible for daily operations of conferences. Liaised between conference organizers and the University of York Conference Office. Office administration.

Publications

Coauthored publications in prestigious peer review journals including Science, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B and Current Biology. See publications page for details.