Michael Wilkinson
Research Scientist at University of Oklahoma
Norman, Oklahoma, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolMichael Wilkinson is a research scientist and experienced postdoctoral physicist with over a decade in particle-detector R&D, high-energy physics data analysis, and scientific software development. He has led LHCb analyses probing matter–antimatter asymmetries, prototyped novel dark-matter detectors with CODEX-b, and advanced hadronization studies with MLhad, combining experimental insight with machine-learning–driven analysis. An active open-source contributor, he has improved core tools used across HEP workflows, including enhancements to ROOT’s RooFit and TLorentzVector and backend fixes to the widely used Snakemake workflow engine. Based in Norman, Oklahoma, he bridges deep domain expertise and pragmatic software engineering, often surfacing low-level improvements that unlock broader analysis capabilities.
10 years of coding experience
12 years of employment as a software developer
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Physics, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Physics at Syracuse UniversityB.S. and B.A., Physics and English, B.S. and B.A., Physics and English at University of Oklahoma
Spanish
Github Skills (17)
root-view10
snakemake10
python10
cplus10
document-root10
workflow-management10
cpp10
data-analysis10
debug9
debugging9
statistics8
mathematics8
math8
git7
command-line7
Programming languages (9)
Github contributions (5)
snakemake/snakemake
May 2020 - Jun 2022
This is the development home of the workflow management system Snakemake. For general information, see
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:9 commits, 10 PRs, 13 comments in 2 years 1 month
Contributions summary:Michael primarily contributed to the Snakemake workflow management system by addressing several key issues and implementing new features. Their work includes fixing bugs related to XRootD path handling and file matching, optimizing the workflow's DAG building process, and adding the ability to pass parameters to subworkflows. Additionally, the user enhanced the system by adding an example for updating git files and enabling the use of the --no-subworkflows command when using --cluster.
management-systemworkflow-management-systemgeneral-informationreproducibilitysnakemake
root-project/root
Jun 2019 - Aug 2020
The official repository for ROOT: analyzing, storing and visualizing big data, scientifically
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:3 reviews, 36 commits, 22 PRs in 1 year 1 month
Contributions summary:Michael made several contributions related to the ROOT data analysis framework. They focused on enhancing the `RooFit` module, specifically improving the `SPlot` class by enabling fit options and the `RooDSCBShape` and `RooSDSCBShape` classes, used for modeling data with asymmetries. Furthermore, the user contributed to the `TLorentzVector` class by adding support for the `PxPyPzEVector`, and improved the `TDirectory` class with enhanced functionality. These changes suggest involvement in core data analysis and framework development.
pythonroot-cernmathematicsc-plus-plusscientific-visualization
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