Robert Petit
Senior Bioinformatics Scientist
Cheyenne, Wyoming, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolRobert Petit is a Senior Bioinformatics Scientist with 12 years of experience building microbial genomics workflows and public health bioinformatics infrastructure. As lead bioinformatician at the Wyoming Public Health Laboratory he architects Azure-based pipelines for pathogen surveillance and maintains open-source tools used by thousands, including the Bactopia bacterial genomics workflow. He is an active contributor to community projects like Bioconda and nf-core (notably adding and hardening Nextflow modules and tooling), blending backend development, DevOps, and reproducible workflow design. An adjunct professor mentoring graduate students, he pairs a PhD and MS in bioinformatics with hands-on systems administration and cloud deployment experience—skills he honed across academia and public health labs. Less obvious: he has a history of diverse software work from game-server C++/Lua fixes to packaging and CI improvements, reflecting a pragmatic, full-stack problem-solving approach.
11 years of coding experience
9 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Biology, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Biology at Valdosta State UniversityMaster of Science (M.S.) Bioinformatics, Master of Science (M.S.) Bioinformatics at Georgia Institute of TechnologyDoctor of Philosophy - PhD Biology/Biological Sciences General, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD Biology/Biological Sciences General at Emory University
python, bash, groovy, javascript, perl, php, awk, English
Github Skills (34)
go-modules10
c-language10
develop10
python10
scripting10
dsl10
conda10
workflow-engine10
kernel-module10
recipe10
nextflow10
lua10
script10
workflow-automation10
pipeline10
Programming languages (25)
Github contributions (5)
nf-core/modules
Mar 2021 - Nov 2022
Repository to host tool-specific module files for the Nextflow DSL2 community!
Role in this project:
Backend Developer
Backend DeveloperContributions:91 reviews, 77 commits, 90 PRs in 1 year 8 months
Contributions summary:Robert primarily contributed to the `nf-core/modules` repository, which hosts tool-specific module files for the Nextflow DSL2 community. The user's contributions included implementing and updating modules for various bioinformatics tools, such as Prokka, Shovill, Dragonflye, and others. These changes involved adding new module functionality, fixing code, adapting tests, and updating dependencies, demonstrating a focus on expanding the available tools within the Nextflow framework.
nf-corehostnextflow-dsl2nextflowdsl2
bioconda/bioconda-recipes
Oct 2018 - Jan 2023
Conda recipes for the bioconda channel.
Role in this project:Backend Developer & DevOps Engineer
Backend Developer & DevOps EngineerContributions:1526 reviews, 120 commits, 628 PRs in 4 years 3 months
Contributions summary:Robert primarily contributed to the bioconda-recipes repository by adding and updating recipes for various bioinformatics tools. These contributions involved creating build scripts, modifying configuration files, and integrating new software packages, often including Python scripts and shell commands. Additionally, the user demonstrated DevOps skills by merging pull requests, which included updates to various meta files and build systems, and addressing issues related to packaging and dependencies.
recipescondabiocondabioinformaticspackage-management
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