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(Partial) CV of Kurt Lust

Work experience

01/2021-now: Member LUMI User Support Team
UAntwerpen

  • Team lead of the Computational Environment teams
  • Design and implementation of the module tree and software setup with EasyBuild
  • Installation and optimization of scientific software
  • Participation in user training and documentation development
  • General user support

01/2015-now: HPC consultant
UAntwerpen

  • User support
  • Installation and optimization of scientific software
  • Training: Reworked and evolved the training for new users; added a module on hardware- and software architecture of a cluster, explaining the different types of software and why we need properly written software for a supercomputer
  • Collaborate in PRACE 6IP WP7 task 4a on benchmarking (responsible for GPAW)
  • Development of documentation, both end-user documentation and internal documentation for the HPC team
  • Back-up for the system admin during vacation periods
  • Responsible for the technical requirements documents for local procurements

11-12/2014: HPC analyst
KU Leuven

Work at the Department of Computer Science on the project for which I did the feasibility study in April 2014. When accepting to work again on the project, I already new I could start at UAntwerpen in January 2015, which explains the short duration.

2013 – 04/2014: HPC analyst
KU Leuven

  • Management of the supercomputer infrastructure
  • Implementation of the VSC technical projects
  • User support at all levels
  • April 2014: Feasibility study and development of a funding proposal in collaboration with a research group of the Department of Computer Science for a parallelisation/vectorisation project of a data mining code from a small Belgian enterprise.

2008 – 2013: HPC Core Facility Manager and coordinator of the Flemish Supercomputer Centre (VSC)
KU Leuven

  • Coordination of the project
  • Technical and financial planning of the VSC (vscentrum.be); defending the plans in front of review committees
  • Reporting about the progress of the project
  • Contacts with the funding offices, participating institutions, industry and users at the KU Leuven
  • Creating awareness about the opportunities offered by supercomputing and taking care of information sessions
  • Co-author of tender documents
  • Writing and defending a proposal for the Belgian participation in the European project PRACE; technical advisor to the Belgian delegate

2004 – 2008: Lecturer
University of Groningen, Institute for Mathematics and Computing Science

  • Research into numerical methods for large scale problems and CFD-related applications
  • Lecturing of a number of courses (mathematics, numerical mathematics, scientific computing) to students from various study areas in sciences; developing or redeveloping two courses
  • Member of the mathematics programme committee
  • Head of the computer policy committee of the Institute for Mathematics and Computing Science

1998 – 2004: Postdoctoral fellow of the “Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – Vlaanderen” (Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders)
External lecturer from October 2002 (external since I was not funded by the university)
KU Leuven, Department of Computer Science, Scientific Computing Research Group

  • Research into numerical methods for large scale problems and multi-scale methods, and guided several master thesis and Ph.D. students.
  • Lecturing of two courses on numerical methods and scientific computing; co-developer of one of those courses.

1999 – 2000: Visitor
Mathematics Institute van de University of Warwick, United Kingdom

  • Research in numerical mathematics
  • Tutoring of a group of first year students
  • Funding from the FWO-Flanders with a contribution of the University of Warwick

1998 – 1999: Postdoctoral Fellow
Cornell University, Center for Applied Mathematics

  • Research into numerical methods for large scale problems
  • Collaboration with the United Technologies Research Center

Summer 1998: IMA postdoctoral associate in Industrial Mathematics
University of Minnesota, Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA)

  • Research in the United Technologies Research Center, in the group "Mechatronic Systems" on the project "Reduced order model development and structure determination from large-scale industrial simulations"

1997 – 1998: IMA postdoctoral associate (research specialist tot 1 October 1997)
University of Minnesota, Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA)

  • Participation in the annual program “Emerging Applications of Dynamical Systems”, interaction with visitors and fellow postdocs
  • Research into numerical methods for large scale dynamical systems

1992 – 1997: Ph.D. researcher
KU Leuven, Department of Computer Science, Scientific Computing Research Group

  • Mainly funded by the FWO
  • Research into numerical methods for large scale problems and CFD
  • Responsible for exercise sessions for the courses on parallel computing and dynamical systems
  • Representative of the research group in the computer system group

Military service (May till December 1993): After basic training I worked at the General Staff office. Duties included the management of network at the office and the development of an Enterprise Information System (with one colleague).

Education

09/92 – 08/97: Ph.D. in Applied Sciences (Engineering)
KU Leuven, Department of Computer Science, Scientific Computing Research Group (advisor Prof. dr. ir. Dirk Roose)

  • Title: Numerical Algorithms for Bifurcation Analysis of Periodic Solutions of Large-Scale Nonlinear Dynamical Systems; Ph.D. obtained on 17 December 1997

10/87 – 06/92: Master of Engineering in Computer Science (Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics option)
KU Leuven

  • Winner of the IBM Belgium Price for Informatics 1993 for my master thesis “Parallelle algoritmen voor het oplossen van de Euler vergelijking op onregelmatige roosters” (Parallel algorithms for solving the Euler equations on unstructured grids)

09/81 – 06/87: Secondary school: Latin – mathematics
Sint-Lodewijkscollege in Brugge

Knowledge and competencies

  • Languages:
    • Dutch: native speaker
    • English: Very good understanding, oral and written
    • French: Good understanding of spoken and written French, oral and written skills intermediate
  • A broad interest in technology (and in particular IT- and electronics-related)
  • A high-level knowledge of all aspects of supercomputing technology (hardware and software, programming models and -techniques) and how they influence each other, and a good view on the evolution of the technology
  • Likes to learn about new technologies, learns quickly
  • Expertise in scientific computing (programming, numerical and applied mathematics, software optimisation, ...)
  • Programming experience in C, Fortran, Matlab, MPI
  • Experience with working in a complex environment on projects with multiple partners
  • I like to work in an interdisciplinary environment, and this is demonstrated by collaborations with engineers and scientists from many different fields throughout my career, e.g., aeronautical engineers, chemical engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists
  • Having lived abroad in three countries for a total of 7 years and having worked in university environments, I have had the pleasure to work with people with different cultural backgrounds
  • Experience with Microsoft Office

Other interests and additional information

  • Currently single
  • Sports: Mostly hiking and some cycling.
  • I like listening to music, I also work as a volunteer in the logistics team of a local symphonic orchestra (Frascati Symphonic).
  • I am a volunteer for UniQue, the regional LGBTQ+-organization for Vlaams-Brabant.
  • I like travelling. During my holidays, I usually do rather sporty trips and every now and then a short city trip. Two memorable trips were a study trip to Taiwan and South Korea with the students of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science of the University of Groningen and a trip to Ecuador in 2003 with two climbs of (non-technical) 5000m-summits.