tl;dr: Under supervision of Dr. Thijs Heus I worked on a computational model for their microphysics model of precipitation formation in the atmosphere.

The Story:

During my last year at my undergraduate institute, Cleveland State University (CSU), I took up a computational physics project, where I was tasked with programming and debugging microphysics calculations for microHH: a numerical Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) for modeling turbulent flow in the atmosphere. This was my first time using C++ and CUDA, and I learned a lot about the power of GPU programming. The project is still active and has its own website (also hosted by GitHub!).

While working on this large-scale collaborative project, I learned about patiently debugging code, and carefully pushing changes to GitHub.

The Results:

  • Gained familiarity with C++ and CUDA.
  • Learned the basics of Git and GitHub.
  • Shortly after leaving CSU, the project was finished by another researcher on the team. The microphysics (C++ and CUDA) codes are now in use, and available on the GitHub repository.

The Details:

  • CUDA / GPU computing
  • Microphysics of precipitation