Max Chandler

Computer Science PhD candidate

At a glance

PhD candidate who is organised, confident with self-motivation, long term projects and is highly focused. Passionate about learning and implementing new techniques and technologies. Experience with simulation, data visualisation, Bayesian statistical methods, deep learning with convolutional neural networks and Linux system administration. Predominantly worked with Matlab and Python and some experience with C, Fortran, Java and Go.

Technical skills

Areas of expertise

Experience

Cardiff University

2015-Present Computer Science PhD. “Quantum Control for Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy” : An application of quantum control techniques to metabolites in-vivo via MRI, and a review and improvement of current spectral analysis techniques using machine learning and neural networks.

During my PhD, I have primarily been focused on developing and optimising control schemes for quantum systems. I have developed a quantum control framework in Matlab with PostgreSQL for storage and Bash & tmux for distributed computing and monitoring. I have also applied Bayesian statistical methods and deep learning to the inverse problem of spectral decomposition, where the aim is to improve over the current industry standard using a variant of the NLLS algorithm. The goal of these two contributions is to enable clinicians to have a more precise and accurate understanding of the metabolic composition of material in-vivo, providing new and improving current non-invasive diagnostic techniques.

I have also been a tutor for the last 3 years, predominantly teaching the year-long group project focused around developing a product in a simulated professional environment using TDD/BDD and Agile & Waterfall methodologies. I have also taught Python, Java, C and web development along with being a post-graduate student representative.

Skills Gained

Chandler Cycles

2015-Present I have set up and grown an online retail business to support myself in addition to a university stipend, in the last 3 years the business has grown to just over 100 SKUs. The goal was to learn how to automate and streamline the process to keep time focused on my studies; the business now requires around an hour a week of interaction, down from an hour or more per day.

This venture has taught me the importance of customer and supplier support for long-term relationship growth, in addition to a basic understanding of business-critical systems. It has also allowed me to explore and migrate to newer and better-suited technologies and frameworks when needed.

Skills Gained

Education

2015-Present Cardiff University PhD Computer Science (supervisor: Frank Langbein)

2012-15 Cardiff University BSc Computer Science (First class honours)

Employment

2013-14 Cardiff University Undergraduate Research Assistant - ‘How unique is my city?’ A Spatial analysis of the UK’. This placement entailed collecting data from FourSquare, selecting descriptive metrics for analysis, and finding interesting correlations to display the variance and uniqueness in cities across the UK.

2012-13 Bigpeaks Bike shop Sales Assistant

2010-12 The Watermans Arms Waiter & Bar Manager

Other

Self study

Hobbies

Awards

EPSRC Full postgraduate scholarship (PhD fees + stipend)

CUROP Undergraduate summer research project stipend

2018 Staff award for a poster on Quantum Control

References

Available upon request.