Why did I do it?
I'm currently researching under Dr. Olivier Hervet to improve Bjet_MCMC because I'm interested in working with computationally demanding programs, and I think his work modeling Active Galactic Nuclei is really fascinating. I'm really excited to be able to contribute to the project.What did I accomplish?
I've been using the Hummingbird Computer Cluster to test Bjet and gather data on its performance. I've written a bunch of python to automate tasks such as extracting and interpreting Bjet's output and creating graphs. I've also modified the code base to expose previously hidden details about the proccess for more insight into Bjet's in-practice performance. I then took my results, prepared a presentation, and shared my findings with the UCSC Very High Energy Astrophysics Department. I was able to find parameters that reduced runtime by ~20% without impacting accuracy.My next task is to build a program that can automatically gather data from many different telescopes. The goal is to be able to anticipate blazar flares so that we can point a telescope at the source and capture the event which only occurs ~1 time per year.
What did I learn?
The most important thing I'm learning right now is how to deal with a large, complex project, that I didn't write myself. Most of my programming at school is individual and small scale, so working to augment and improve an existing codebase is a new experience. I've also gotten to practice larger scale software developement, and I have been solving different problems then I usually do, like deciding how I am going to organize and structure my code.The biggest challenge I am currently facing is that my code is actually important. If it fails for some reason and we miss a flare, we might have to wait years for another oppurtunity. I am not sure how I am going to deal with that 100% yet, but so far I am taking care to think about possible errors and how I will handle them. I also am working on writing unit tests for the more complicated parts of my program, and I am planning to develop a debugging mode that will help me run end to end tests.