New Employee Profile - January 2017

Brandon Krull

Brandon Krull, CRD

This month, Brandon Krull joins the CRD's Center for Computational Sciences and Engineering (CCSE) as a Postdoctoral Fellow. He will work on an LDRD-funded project focused on the development and use of time-parallel algorithms in quantum chemistry. The goal of the project is to enable significant speed-ups in the calculation of real-time electronic structure response properties for understanding the dynamical processes in energy-related materials.

Though he did not formally study any computational science until graduate school, Krull developed a love-hate relationship with computers from a young age. He was the first in his family to own and (of course) break a computer, resulting in many opportunities to learn their ins and outs. "I think back to all the times that I had to wipe and reformat my hard drive as a kid...I could do it with my eyes close," he jokes. His appreciation for computational tools has grown dramatically since then: "I would use a RaspberryPi and Python to automate everything myself if I had the time, but I'll make do with flipping light switches by hand for now."

Krull received B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Biotechnology from Cal Poly Pomona and M.S and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from the University of California, Irvine. As an undergraduate, his research comprised synthetic organic and materials chemistry, but his doctoral thesis work was ultimately in the fields of theoretical and computational chemistry. His computational work in collaboration with the Evans group at UCI has helped to expand the known stable oxidation states of the lanthanide atoms, something that was thought to be exhausted since the 1950s.

Originating from Southern California, Krull feels most at home at the beach, but will take any opportunity to be outside, connecting with nature. He spends what free time he has producing music, creating mixed-media art, and enjoying a good bouldering challenge.