Meet the Research Computing Group
Core Staff
John Huffman
Director of Research Computing
John brings over 20 years of academic research computing support with a focus on high performance computing and advanced visualization applications to UD-IT. He will work closely with the Vice President for Research, Scholarship, and Innovation as well as the college research deans and other key stakeholders in research computing including faculty, research centers, the University Library, and IT leadership to plan and provide the infrastructure, applications and services required to support the University’s diverse and growing research portfolio. John also will assist with the development of research computing strategies, deploy technologies to enable data intensive research programs, and improve coordination between university-wide and departmental IT teams.
Dr. Jeffrey Frey
Systems Programmer, HPC Team
Jeff received his PhD in physical chemistry in 2006 with a focus on theoretical methods. His thesis relied on high-performance computing and required familiarity with the hardware, software, and administration of HPC systems. He continues to use those skills both in HPC support within the University’s IT organization and in support of the College of Engineering.
Bowen Deng
Systems Programmer, HPC Team
Bowen Deng has a broad spectrum of experience in HPC systems and scientific computing. Earning a Ph.D. in materials science, his research was deeply rooted in leveraging computational methods and HPC to answer materials science questions. After graduate school, Bowen continued to deepen his expertise in research computing, delving into HPC system administration and facilitation, while also working on computational projects himself. He has also taught undergraduate programming classes in MATLAB.
Anita Z. Schwartz
Manager of Research Computing Support and Services
Anita has over 35 years of experience supporting clients at UD including high-performance computing (HPC) since 2011. She is vital in making HPC a transparent resource for advances in research computing. As a Campus Champion, Anita seeks to assist researchers in understanding available resources as well as assisting with cluster computing technical questions and problems. She is a key component in planning, testing, documenting and training for all clusters. Anita has a BA and Master’s in Computer and Information Sciences, Master’s in Information Systems and Technology Management and a certificate in Analytics: Optimizing Big Data — all from the University of Delaware.
Tinghua Chen
Scientific Application Consultant, HPC Team
Tinghua holds a Ph.D. in applied mathematics, specializing in theoretical high-energy physics. The research journey of Higgs boson production naturally led him to the world of High-Performance Computing. During his time at Wichita State University, Tinghua was able to assist fellow researchers in establishing efficient workflows on HPC systems and utilizing computational resources efficiently. In his role as HPC Scientific Application Consultant, Tinghua is excited to leverage his background and expertise to support and empower research experience in UD.
Byungkyun Kang
Research Software Engineer, CAS
Byungkyun is a PhD in Physics with many years of experience in computational materials physics as a postdoc, utilizing and developing scientific software running on HPC. He was also a software engineer working for companies, learning modern software engineering. As a Research Software Engineer, he will use his skills to support HPC-related research in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Olena Smith
Lead Geospatial Information Consultant
Olena has been working with GIS since 2002. She supports the UD Geospatial Research community as a technological leader and consultant. Her experience includes database and back-end management and extensive experience in administrating ArcGIS data. Olena has over 6 years experience teaching geospatial courses at Esri. Prior to joining the Research Computing Staff at UD in 2015, Olena worked as a Senior Geospatial Engineer for Booz Allen Hamilton at National Guard Bureau. She has a M.S. in Geography/Teacher of Geography from Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine and a M.A. in Geography/GIS from Western Michigan University, USA.
Michael Kyle
Research Computing Security Analyst, HPC Team
Michael is a member of UD’s Research Cyberinfrastructure team as a Research Computing Security Analyst. His primary responsibilities are to assist UD’s research community with the HPC resources and any IT security related issues. He also serves as one of UD’s Campus Champions. Michael has a B.S. in Earth Science with a major in Meteorology, from Kean University, and then went on to get M.S. in Cybersecurity from University of Delaware. His work experiences span the non-profit, private, and public sectors where he worked on a range of projects. Some of the projects included scientific programming, visualization, data storage, and cybersecurity.
Associate Staff
Bill Totten
Enterprise Architect, Enterprise Systems & Cloud Services