Introducing Sherman Lo, RSE

Hello! I am Sherman and I have just joined the RSE team at Queen Mary. Glad to meet you all!

My background is in computational statistics and machine learning. I have completed projects in rainfall prediction, defect detection for 3D printing and Markov chains using Monte Carlo. These projects involved collaboration with various scientists, such as meteorologists, engineers and statisticians.

My favourite programming languages are Java, Python and C++ but I have found MATLAB and R are popular with engineers and statisticians. Brilliantly, there’s an R package, called rcpp, that allows C++ code to be run in R. Furthermore, MATLAB can facilitate running Java and CUDA code. This allows for fast parallel programs to run seamlessly in MATLAB and R, making it accessible to as many researchers as possible.

I had some experience with HPC. In the rainfall prediction project, fitting the statistical model and making predictions were done all in parallel, across all grid locations over the British Isles, using HPC facilities. I have also developed an image filter that runs on a GPU.

My advice to any programmer would be to plan, plan, plan! There were quite a few times I would like to dive right into coding but then realise, halfway through, the code would not have worked. Planning helps you look for problems and encourages good code structure before you start tapping away at the keyboard.

I am looking forward to working with researchers on their software. I would also like to take opportunities to fill in gaps in my programming expertise, such as MPI, build systems and automated testing.