Research at UC Berkeley using IPython

If you are at Berkeley and using IPython for your research, please add yourself to this list

• Kathryn (Katy) Huff - I use IPython and the IPython notebook for everything. In particular, I use IPython and the notebook for prototyping code that contributes to my nuclear engineering research. My most recent IPython notebook uses python packages such as PyNE and yt to generate a large 3-D regular mesh of the core of the Pebble-Bed Fluoride-Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Nuclear Reactor. This mesh and the materials described on it will be used as input for high-fidelity neutronics simulations using external codes such as Serpent, MCNP, and MOOSE.

• Min Ragan-Kelley (Plasma Theory and Simulation Group, Applied Science & Technology) We had an existing C++ plasma physics simulation application, with a primitive GUI (OOPIC, OOPD1). I removed the GUI code, and turned the application into a C++ library, which I exposed to Python via Cython wrappers. With the new Python API, I was able to use IPython notebooks to build and run simulations interactively, with immediate feedback, plotting (with matplotlib), and analysis (with numpy and scipy). This new code was applied to a system of bipolar flow of electrons and ions in a diode, allowing a automated optimization of physical parameters, a more efficient approach, which was able to reproduce results that had previously taken days, in just minutes. This work is currently under review for publication. I was also able to easily build HTML reports with nbconvert, which I frequently used to discuss results with my advisor, who had moved to a different university.

• Isaac Shivvers - I'm a graduate student in astrophysics, and I use the IPython notebook extensively in my research on the optical spectra of supernovae. I've found it incredibly useful as a lab notebook of sorts, keeping track of my ideas and calculations at the beginning of a new project as I try various approaches and try to understand the results. I've been able to run a parallel notebook cluster on one of the large astronomy computers and then access and run it through my browser on my laptop, which has made very long/difficult calculations much more friendly.