Oliver Hall, Ph.D¶

ESA Research Fellow, Data Scientist, Astrophysicist¶

Sidebar:¶

info¶

ojhall94@gmail.com github.com/ojhall94

asteronomer.com

@asteronomer

(+31)(0)614227748

Leiden, NL

ORCID: 0000-0002-0468-4775

languages¶

Bilingual fluency in English and Dutch

programming¶

Fluent: Python, SQL

Competent: HTML, MATLAB

tools¶

Python: NumPy, SciPy, pandas, scikit-learn, Stan, JAX, Pyro, PyMC, TensorFlow, Matplotlib, seaborn, pytest

Other: Jupyter, Google Colab, GitHub, Unix, Office365, ChatGPT

skills¶

  • Bayesian Statistics
  • AI/Machine Learning
  • Predictive Modelling
  • Open Source Development
  • Data Visualisation
  • Time-series analysis
  • Communication
  • Leadership, Mentoring
  • Critical Thinking
  • Problem Solving
  • Project Management

awards + hons¶

ESA Research Fellowship: Highly competitive fellowship for independent research

Associate Fellow (AFHEA): Formal acknowledgement of teaching expertise

Royal Society Partnership Grant: Competitive £3000 grant for school outreach programme

Main body:¶

PhD in Astrophysics with a focus on Bayesian statistics, machine learning and high performance computational methods. Track record of finding creative data-driven solutions to open problems and delivering actionable scientific results. Thrives in a fast-paced, deadline-driven collaborative environment. 7 years experience in research of which 3 post-doctoral. Seeking new challenges and growth in data and industry.

Experience:¶

2020 to now - ESA Research Fellow - European Space Research and Technology Centre, NL

  • Applying Fourier Analysis, Gaussian Processes, Hierarchical Bayesian modelling to time-series data using PyMC3, Pyro, JAX.
  • Providing statistical and scientific expertise to ESA staff scientists.
  • Designing, executing and disseminating novel research and its outcomes.

2020 - Freelance Software Developer - NumFOCUS, US

  • Developing training materials for users of the NASA Kepler and K2 missions.
    • Integrating the open source package Lightkurve into the Astropy framework.

Projects:¶

Automated all-sky survey of stellar rotation in galactic structures

  • Built open source program automating measurement of stellar rotation in 213$\,$GB of data.
  • Built a hierarchical latent variable model reporting 790 stellar membership probabilities of galactic structures used for follow-up observations and analysis by scientific community.

Advanced hierarchical models of stellar rotation in time-series data

  • Used hierarchical models, Gaussian processes to measure rotation in 94 stellar periodograms.
  • Performed model rejection between two hypotheses in 5-dimensional parameter space, providing critical new evidence that a contested theory of stellar evolution was 98\% more likely than its alternative.

Modelling covariances of stellar properties in large standard-candle populations

  • Developed generative hierarchical latent variable models of population of >5000 stars.
  • Delivered detailed information about covariances in the population properties, leading to a 25\% precision improvement of distance measurements calibrated using this population.

education¶

2016 to 2020 - Ph.D. in Physics \& Astronomy - University of Birmingham, UK

  • Developed novel Bayesian Models to determine stellar population properties.
  • Lead development on two modules of open source Python package Lightkurve, with >250k downloads and >400 citations.

2012 to 2016 - M.Sci. in Physics \& Astrophysics - 1$^{st}$ w. Hons. - University of Birmingham, UK

2006 to 2012 - Gymnasium - 10 9s incl. Maths, Physics, English - Gemeentelijk Gymnasium Hilversum, NL

other experience¶

  • Collaborating: worked on projects and in consortia in teams ranging from 3 to 80+ researchers.
  • Speaking: expert speaker for >20 academic conferences, seminars, public outreach events.
  • Writing: (co-)authored 18 scientific and 14 popular-science articles, receiving 850+ citations.
  • Data presentation: designed readable graphs, posters, presentations for experts and public.
  • Peer review: expert panel member for 2 scientific journals and 2 NASA funding programs.
  • Teaching/Mentoring: (co-)supervisor for 4 master's students, run knowledge workshops.
  • Organising: run 3 conferences, summer student program, fortnightly working group meetings.
In [ ]: