Adam Sierakowski

Over more than a decade in academia, I have accumulated valuable technical and methodological expertise that bridges the gap between scientific research and computational infrastructure. I am intimately familiar with the processes, workflows, capabilities, and tendencies of researchers from undergraduates to principal investigators, and I work to fill a critical need within the research university: a scientific computing professional dedicated to the long-term success of both the research endeavors and the researchers themselves.

My efforts in support of scientific computing within the research university have evolved over time to fall into four categories: (1) informal scientific computing consulting; (2) hands-on computational infrastructure support; (3) long-term leadership and management of the design, construction, deployment, and support of scientific computing tools; and (4) scientific computing technology concepts and skills training.

The feedback I receive from domain scientists and engineers indicate that my efforts in supporting their scientific computing needs enhance their research capabilities on a daily basis. My ability to share my technical and methodological expertise bridging scientific research and computational infrastructure is recognized by researchers to enable capabilities within their research groups that would not otherwise exist.

Associate Research Scientist
Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute (HEMI) Fellow
The Johns Hopkins University
3400 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218

  • Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 2016
  • M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 2015
  • B.S. Mechanical Engineering (Aerospace Concentration, Mathematics Minor), Johns Hopkins University, 2010
  • Craedl – Architect and project lead – (Craedl.org), 2016 – present
    • Craedl (the Collaborative Research Administration Environment and Data Library) is an academic research data management service (researcher project management, large file sharing, data collaboration and discovery, research documentation, institution management)
    • $1M budget
    • Lead a team of four staff and student developers
    • Technical components: ApacheAmazon Web ServicesASGICSSDjangoGitHTTPInCommonJavaScriptPythonShibbolethSQLWSGI
  • Azure for scientific research – Institute liaison and technical lead, 2020 – present
    • Leading the adoption of cloud computing at the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute
    • Translate between researchers’ scientific needs and IT professionals’ technical needs
    • Provide direct systems and software engineering support to researchers
    • Technical components: Microsoft Azure
  • Bluebottle – Architect and project lead – (PhysalisCFD.org), 2011 – present
    • An open-source many GPU finite-difference resolved-particle disperse two-phase flow solver
    • Advised a Johns Hopkins University Ph.D. student in the extension of Bluebottle from one to many GPUs
    • Technical components: CCudaGitPython
  • CMRL UQ-PHCM portal – Architect and project lead, 2020
    • Design and construct a web portal for the creation and distribution of custom UMAT file binaries that incorporate the Uncertainty Quantified Parametrically Homogenized Constitutive Models (UQ-PHCM)
    • Continuous deployment
    • Technical components: ApacheAzureCSSDjangoDockerGitHTTPMariaDBPythonWSGI
  • CMEDE proposal tool overhaul – Project lead, 2017
    • Overhaul of a web-based tool for soliciting and reviewing internal grant proposals for CMEDE
    • Technical components: PHPWordPress
  • SPHear – Contributor, 2008 – 2012
  • Craedl cluster, 2018 – present
  • MARCC Bluecrab, 2016 – 2020
  • Lucan, 2014 – 2019
    • Designed, constructed, and administer a small GPU computing cluster for the Prosperetti Research Group
    • Technical components: BashDebianSlurm
  • Associate Research Scientist, Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute, Johns Hopkins University, 2019 – present
    • Focus: Development of scientific high-performance computing and research data management applications
    • Responsibilities:
      • Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute, Johns Hopkins University (2016 – present): research data management system design, development, and administration
      • MARCC software development and support, Johns Hopkins University (2016 – 2020)
      • Computational Mechanics Research Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University (2016 – 2020): HPC application development support
  • Assistant Research Scientist, Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute, Johns Hopkins University, 2016 – 2019
    • Focus: Development of scientific high-performance computing and research data management applications
    • Responsibilities:
      • Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute, Johns Hopkins University (2016 – present): research data management system design, development, and administration
      • MARCC user education and support, Johns Hopkins University (2016 – 2020):
        • Design and implementation of new scientific computing curricula for HPC user education
        • Direct user scientific computing support (remote and in-person)
        • Application development consulting
      • Computational Mechanics Research Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University (2016 – 2020): HPC application development support
      • Prosperetti Research Group, University of Houston (2016 – 2019): HPC/GPU application design and development; physical system analysis consultation
  • Ph.D. Student, Mechanical Engineering Department, Johns Hopkins University, 2011 – 2016
    • Advisor: Professor Andrea Prosperetti
    • Focus: Computational fluid dynamics, resolved-particle disperse two-phase flows, high-performance GPU computing, constitutive modeling of complex systems
    • Major responsibilities: Design, develop, and apply a new implementation of a GPU-centric resolved-particle disperse two-phase flow simulation tool (Bluebottle); design, build, and administer a multi-user four-node in-house GPU computing cluster
    • Minor responsibilities: Mentor two junior Ph.D. students, assist with grant proposal preparation
    • Collaborations:
      • Professor Luca Brandt, Linné FLOW Centre, Department of Mechanics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden (2015): Development of a GPU/OMP/MPI high-performance flow solver
      • Laura Lukassen, Ph.D., The Graduate School of Excellence Computational Engineering, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany (2013 – 2016): Investigation of shear-induced diffusion using Bluebottle
  • Summer Intern, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 2008 – 2012
    • Mentor: Matthew Lear, Ph.D.
    • Focus: Fluid dynamics, fluid-structure interaction, GPU computing
    • Responsibilities: Contribute to and applied SPHear, a smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) finite-element interaction computer simulation code
  • Courses Taught:
  • Courses Assisted:
    • Graduate Fluid Dynamics, Johns Hopkins University, Fall 2012, Fall 2013
    • Undergraduate Heat Transfer, Johns Hopkins University, Spring 2012, Fall 2013
    • Freshman Experiences in Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Fall 2011, Spring 2010, Fall 2009, Spring 2009, Fall 2008
  • STEM Outreach:
    • Judge for the Mount Royal Elementary/Middle School Science Fair, Baltimore City, 2015 – 2017
    • Hopkins Engineering Innovation Special Lecture – Presented a lecture about fluid mechanics to high school seniors attending the Hopkins Engineering Innovation summer program, 2015 – 2017
    • Hopkins Engineering Innovation Special Topics Day – Developed and presented an interactive lecture about parallel computing to high school seniors attending the Hopkins Engineering Innovation summer program, 2014 – 2018
    • Judge for the Maryland Science Olympiad, 2014
    • Western High School interactive lessons – Developed and presented an interactive lesson about parallel programming to many small groups of students in a physics class at Western High School in Baltimore City, 2013
  • National Science Foundation Modeling Complex Systems Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Fellow, 2011 – 2015
  • Creel Family Teaching Assistant Award, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 2013
  • Creel Family Teaching Assistant Award, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 2010
  • Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honor Society, Johns Hopkins University, 2010
  • Pi Tau Sigma Mechanical Engineering Honor Society, Johns Hopkins University, 2009
  • Bloomberg Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 2006 – 2010

Craedl, the Collaborative Research Administration Environment and Data Library, is designed to support academic research by integrating cloud data storage, sharing, and discovery; research group project management; and institutional research administration. We provide secure, scalable research data management resources that allow academic research teams to focus on their core research so they can increase their productivity, improve their organization, and advance the state of their art.

 

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Featured Publications

(7) D.P. Willen and A.J. SierakowskiResolved particle simulations using the Physalis method on many GPUs, Comput. Phys. Comm. 250 (2020) 107071, doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2019.107071

(6) Y. Wang, A.J. Sierakowski, A. Prosperetti, Rotational dynamics of a particle in a turbulent stream, Phys. Rev. Fluids 4 (2019) 064304, doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.4.064304

(5) D.P. Willen, A.J. Sierakowski, G. Zhou, and A. Prosperetti, Continuity waves in resolved-particle simulations of fluidized beds, Phys. Rev. Fluids 2 (2017) 114305, doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.2.114305