Alastair Thompson 34 Rochester Road

Belfast
E: athompson20@qub.ac.uk
M: 07894942937
BT6 9LJ P: (+44) 028 90581293

Main Skills: Programming, Advanced Mathematics, Postgraduate Theoretical Physics,

Differential Equations, Fortran, Testing, Highly IT Literate, Adaptable.

Profile
•I'm an individual with strong self belief. Self taught in many fields, willing
to take on any subject. I carry a scientific philosophy with an aptitude
for analytical thought.
•Ability to work unsupervised and independently. Make decisions rapidly.
•Exceptionally fast learner, with a long attention span. Revel in technically
difficult problems.
•Integrity and humour that has helped build relationships. Straight

Curriculum vitae Alastair Thompson

forward kinda guy, get on well with people and enjoy teamwork.
•Proven track record of a high level of achievement, especially within
Mathematics, Physics and IT.

Current Situation:
•Currently writing up part of my PhD, (currently unfunded) at Queen's
University, Belfast.
•Part-time work within a Delivery Team for Boots. Night shift, 5 shifts per
week.

In search of:
•a challenging graduate role alongside industrious, interesting people.
Eager to start my career and to work hard to prove myself.

Areas of Interest: C++ Programming, Finance, Physics Simulation,

3D Programming, Electronics, IT Support, Recursive Algorithms, Optimization,
Mathematical Solutions, Human Organisation.

Education

09/2005 - Current:
PhD at QUB (Awarded DEL Scholarship).
Advanced Quantum Physics specialising in Antimatter collisions,
Advanced Partial Differential Equations, Fortran, Mathematica.
09/2000 - 06/2005:
MSci Theoretical Physics (1st class with Honours) Durham University
and QUB.
Quantum Mechanics, Pure and Applied Mathematics, Programming e.g.
Fortran, Advanced Calculus, Analysis, Statistical Mechanics, PDEs,
Core Physics. (Institute of Physics accredited degree)
09/1998 - 06/2000:
A-levels: Physics A, Maths A, Further Maths A, Computer Studies B.
06/1998:
A*/A in GCSEs such as Additional Maths, Computer Studies, English,
Physics and Business Studies.
Skills

Programming
Most experience in FORTAN 77 and 90 scientific languages. Knowledge of C++,
Pascal, BASIC. Learning a new language not a problem. Currently studying C#
for a personal electronics project. Self taught programming at an early age.

Adept at testing and fixing bugs. Proficient at coding and implementing new
functionalities within existing (sometimes old legacy) programs.

Taught Fortran, Matlab, LaTeX to final year MSci Mathematics Students.

IT support
Took on the responsibility of covering the IT technician's role in CTAMOP (Centre
for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics) for up to a month at a
time. Approx 20 servers/calculation nodes and 50 Macs/PCs. Multi-OS
environment (Linux, Mac OS X, Windows). Users from Professors to Masters
students. Responsibilities such as fixing user issues, taking file server backups,
monitoring server logs, administrating security access, account management,
emergencies.

Knowledge of hardware (Have built many computers). Installation of various

operating systems, Win95, 98, XP, Vista, Linux. Administration of small home
wired+wireless network serving multi-OS computers.

Familiarity of many applications inculding Mathematica, MS Word, Excel, Access,

Open office, powerpoint. 7zip, rar, photoshop, html, XML and dreamweaver.
Advanced macro and scripting use.

Academic Research Areas:

•Positron interaction with many-electron atoms.
•Antihydrogen collisions.
•Double photodetachment.
These areas concentrate on analytical solutions to the Schrödinger equation in
historically mathematically awkward areas of quantum physics.

Other Experience
Presentations to international and national physics conferences using powerpoint
and keynote. Work displayed at ICPEAC and Institution of Physics meets.

Writing professional scientific reports and papers. Producing PDF documents

using LaTeX + TEXshop. Graphics editing using packages such as Photoshop.

Homework marking (8 semesters) for a variety of mathematics modules from 4th

year Partial differential eqns to 2nd yr classical mechanics. Occasionally taught
tutorials.

Customer service experience within Iceland frozen foods, Boots and AURORA.

Interests:

Weightlifting, Boxing, Climbing (Sport and rock). Computers and technology. Currently
building a keyboard, wiring a keyboard matrix to a teensy microcontroller development
board, learning C# to reprogram it. Films. Reading, Learning. Beautiful mathematical
proofs.

I am willing to relocate anywhere. UK, America, Tuva :) anything considered.