Profile
Tom Crick
<strong>Chromium Zone 2011 winner!</strong> Thank you everyone!<br/><a href="http://drtomcrick.com">http://drtomcrick.com</a><br/><a href="http://www.twitter.com/drtomcrick">@DrTomCrick</a>
My CV
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Education:
Wheatley Park School, Oxford (1991-1999)
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Qualifications:
PhD in Computing, University of Bath (2004-2008); BSc (Hons) Computer Science, University of Bath (2000-2004)
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Work History:
Post-doctoral researcher at the University of Bath (2008-2009), research intern at ARM, Cambridge (2002-2003)
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Current Job:
Senior Lecturer in Computer Science
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My research is at the hardware/software interface: making microprocessors run more efficiently, as well as developing tools and languages to use them more effectively.
Some of my recent research is in provably optimal code generation: this basically means that I use mathematics (formal logic) to prove when computer code is as efficient as possible. While this work is theoretical, it has very practical benefits: today, it is increasingly important for devices such as modern mobile phones, where power consumption is the one thing we still have problems with, to efficiently use their resources. We develop these amazing gadgets, have incredible applications to run on them and yet the batteries run out after using them for less than a day. This is a problem! I hope my research will provide a way of making our devices much more efficient.
I also enjoy communicating my research (as well as science in general) to schools and the general public, especially to highlight the importance/relevance of computing — please take a look at my blog: Computing: The Science of Nearly Everything or follow me on Twitter: @DrTomCrick! -
My Typical Day:
Solving large complex problems on high performance computers (clusters and supercomputers), as well as a bit of teaching.
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I’m not sure there is such a thing as a typical day as an academic, but I normally start by going to the gym at 7:30am (when I can get up that early) and getting into the office by about 9am(ish). I get a coffee, check my emails and look at what teaching/labs I have for that day: I teach programming and mathematics on our Computing degrees, as well as being in charge of the whole of the first year cohort (c.80 students!).
On non-teaching days, I focus on my research, pretty much like running scientific experiments: I write programs to try and solve large complex (optimisation) problems on high performance computers (distributed clusters and supercomputers). Often these can take a long time to run, even on a machine with thousands of microprocessors! Otherwise I am writing research papers, chatting to colleagues or research collaborators or trying to think of interesting things to put on my blog.
I tend to relax by playing sport as much as possible: at university I competed internationally at karate, now I play rugby/touch rugby. -
What I'd do with the prize money:
Run activities to raise the general public’s awareness and highlight the importance of computing and technology — it’s the future!
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Hardworking sporty geek.
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Often when I was trying to be clever/funny and show off!
Who is your favourite singer or band?
From iTunes Top 25 most played: Bob Marley, Mumford & Sons, Tracey Chapman, Dizzee Rascal, LTJ Bukem…
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1) To continue to do interesting research that hopefully makes a genuine contribution to science and society. 2) Be successful in my job, maybe become Professor Crick some day! 3) Be happy and live a long life!
Tell us a joke.
Embrace your inner geek and read <a href="http://xkcd.com/">http://xkcd.com/</a>
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