Christopher D. Tunnell

Undergraduate

Motto: "The hardest part of any problem is figuring it why it's trivial"

Location:

Austin, Texas
78705

Education:

2004 - Present University of Texas at Austin
Pursuing B.S. degrees in physics and mathematics, with a strong background in computer science (Course schedule below)

2004 - 2006 Turing Scholars Honors Program
A selective honors program in the Computer Science department within the University of Texas at Austin. I left the program to dedicate myself to physics and mathematics

2000 - 2004 The Hun School of Princeton
Graduated with high honors

Awards and Fellowships:

2005-2006 Undergraduate Research Fellowship Award
Awarded by the University of Texas at Austin and the University Co-Operative Society. Used to fund on-site work at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) in Ontario, Canada for 3.5 months in Summer 2006.

Fall 2006 Melvin J. Reiger Academic Scholarship
Awarded by the Physics Department Scholarship Committee.

Spring 2007 Melvin J. Reiger Academic Scholarship
Awarded by the Physics Department Scholarship Committee.

Proficiency in:

  • Geant, ROOT, PAW and numerous other high-energy physics tools and libraries
  • C/C++, Java, PERL and other programming languages
  • Linux, Solaris and Windows operating systems
  • Cryptography / Information security
  • High precision math libraries (example: GMP)
  • Networking APIs and libraries (example: netfilter)
  • Parallel computing (example: posix)
  • Artisan goat cheese-making (example: chevre, bleu, camembert)

Work experience:

February 2005 - present Particle Physics Researcher at the University of Texas at Austin
  • Primary interest is neutrino physics
  • Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) collaboration
    • A D2O Cerenkov solar-neutrino experiment
    • SNO solved the 40-year old solar neutrino problem.
    • In analysis group with the aim of getting neutrino analysis down to T = 4 MeV
    • In detector working group
    • Selected memos or talks: Measuring the Trigger Efficiency in the NCD-Phase and All-Phase Implications and Instrumental and External Background Contamination Of LETA Cuts
    • Co-authored in Physical Review C: (pre-print)
  • Braidwood collaboration
    • A scintillator reactor-neutrino experiment to measure the theta-13 mixing angle and CP-violation
    • The U.S. Department of Energy pulled the plug April 2006 before detectors built.
    • Helped develop a full geant-based detector simulation called RAT, which might be adopted by Double-Chooze, SNO+ and CLEAN
    • Studied non-linearities in detector response
    • Created event position and energy reconstruction
    • Selected memos or talks: Event Reconstruction, Systematics of Detector Optics for Analysis and Radial Bias of PMT Angular Response.
    • Co-authored poster at Neutrino 2006 Conference: (title) (poster)
  • Advisor: Dr. Joshua Klein
October 2003 - March 2004 Secure Internet Programming research group at Princeton University
  • Learned how to create and analyze secure systems
  • Created a packet-level crytogram system orders of magnitude more protected against denial of service attacks
  • Co-authored: "Puzzle outsourcing for IP-Level DoS Resistance"
  • Reverse engineered and analyzed DRM software
  • Advisor: Dr. Edward Felten
  • Audited a senior information security course (CS432) and a graduate cryptography course (CS433)
2001 - 2004 Information Technology Consultant
  • Held roughly a dozen clients
  • Notable client: Clearview Projects (www.clvp.com)
  • Notable client: Genpath Pharmaceuticals
  • Notable client: B&G Contractors
2001 - 2004 Software development
  • Networking and server administrative tools
  • Tools for analyzing mathematically chaotic systems
  • Cryptographic modules for firewalls

Notable memberships:

  • Officer of Society of Physics Students
  • Member of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
  • Member of Turing Scholar Student Association
  • Member of University of Texas at Austin cycling club

University of Texas at Austin courses
Fall 2007
  • Graduate Physics of Sensors (PHY386K)
  • Electrodynamics (PHY352K)
  • Graduate Algebraic Topology (M382C)
  • Graduate South Indian Cultural History (ANS372)
  • United States History from 1920-1941 (HIS355M)
Summer 2007
  • Senior Thesis Research (PHY670TA)
  • Senior Thesis Writing (PHY670TB)
  • Individual Study in Physics (PHY370C)
Spring 2007
  • Quantum Mechanics 3 (PHY362K)
  • Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics (PHY369)
  • Point-set Topology (M367K)
  • Phoenetics (LIN344K)
Fall 2006
  • Cosmology (AST376)
  • Quantum Mechanics 2 (PHY373)
  • Real Analysis (M365C)
  • German Cinema since 1933 (GRC361E)
  • Techniques of Lap Swimming (PED101J)
Spring 2006
  • Abstract Algebra (M373K)
  • Classical Dynamics (PHY336K)
  • Quantum Mechanics 1 with Lab (PHY453W)
Fall 2005
  • Partial differential equations (M372K)
  • Linear algebra (M340L)
  • Wave theory and optics with lab (PHY315 & PHY115L)
  • Modern computer architecture (CS352H)
  • Computer science honors research seminar (CS178H)
  • Pseudoscience (PHY341/audit)
Summer 2005
  • Vector calculus (M427L)
  • Western music (MUS302L)
Spring 2005
  • Ordinary Differential Equations (M427K)
  • Computer Architecture Honors (CS310H)
  • Discrete Mathematics and Combinatorics Honors (CS336H)
  • Conceptual Electricity and Magnetism (PHY110C)
  • Electricity and Magnetism with lab (PHY316 & PHY116L)
  • Japanese culture (ANS302J/audit)
Fall 2004
  • Multi-variable Calculus Honors (M408DH)
  • Logic and Set Theory Honors (CS313H)
  • Data structures and algoriths honors (CS315H)
  • Conceptual mechanics (PHY110C)
  • Film history (RTF314)