Webmaster and Computing Security Manager at National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Charlottesville, Virginia Area
- Current
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- Webmaster and Computing Security Manager at National Radio Astronomy Observatory
- Past
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- Senior Software Engineer at National Radio Astronomy Observatory
- Division Head, Charlottesville Computing at National Radio Astronomy Observatory
- Scientific Programming Analyst at National Radio Astronomy Observatory
- Scientific Programmer at Space Telescope Science Institute
- Research Assistant at Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory
- Research Scholar at Dunsink Observatory, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
- Education
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- University College Dublin
- Recommended
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3 people have recommended Patrick - Connections
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34
connections
- Industry
- Research
- Websites
Patrick Murphy’s Summary
I started out as a Physics student with aspirations to break into Astronomy. Graduate work at Dunsink Observatory, with extended visits to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Mount Hopkins station enabled that to become a reality, and I published some papers on the general topic of Galaxy Clusters. I finished my Ph.D. in 1983 and after a brief stint as a post-doc at the Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory, went to work at the Space Telescope Science Institute. A year and a half later, I got an offer from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at their VLA location in New Mexico, and I've been with NRAO ever since (albeit at three of their four US-bound sites). I have drifted away from pure Astronomy due to a fascination with computers and programming (not to mention an aptitude to get things done with them), and nothing has quite been the same since then.
Among the roles I've had at NRAO, the most interesting have been the eight years I spent as the primary world-wide support contact for what is now known as "Classic" AIPS (the Astronomical Image Processing System). I was also the systems programmer for the group during this time. I also spent some time as Division Head of Computing at NRAO's Charlottesville headquarters, as well as over a year working with the ALMA Software Engineering group. During these years I accumulated other responsibilities such as NRAO Computing Security Manager and Webmaster; the latter role is shared with Stephan Witz.
My goals? To do what I currently do, only better and more efficiently.
Patrick Murphy’s Specialties:
Unix, Linux, Open Source Software, Web Development, Scripting in several languages, Computer Security, Programming, Systems Analysis, Astronomy, Galaxy Clusters.
Patrick Murphy’s Experience
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Webmaster and Computing Security Manager
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
(Non-Profit; 501-1000 employees; Research industry)
August 2007 — Present (1 year)
I spend 50% of my time performing webmaster duties (in collaboration with Stephan Witz) and the other 50% as Computing Security Manager for all of NRAO. The webmaster duties entail responsibility for the infrastructure that supports our web services, and the security duties include running the Computing Security Committee and oversight of all network and computer security processes at the Observatory.
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Senior Software Engineer
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
(Non-Profit; 501-1000 employees; Research industry)
January 2006 — July 2007 (1 year 7 months)
Half of my time was spent on Software Engineering duties for the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) Computing Integrated Product Team (IPT); the other half was spent as Computing Security Manager and leader of the ad-hoc WebAdmin group at NRAO. The ALMA duties included running the Communications and Networking group, and defining standards for both hardware and software.
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Division Head, Charlottesville Computing
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
(Non-Profit; 501-1000 employees; Research industry)
April 1998 — December 2005 (7 years 9 months)
Management of a group of ~10 staff, whose responsibilities entailed systems support for all Linux, Windows, Solaris, and Mac OS/X systems at NRAO's headquarters. Started the process of modernisation of the ageing, Solaris-based infrastructure and deployed a stable, powerful base of Linux servers for all mainstream functions. Also significantly updated the public AIPS systems at HQ. Worked with other webmasters to deploy a mirroring system for www.nrao.edu that resulted in years of uninterrupted uptime for that service.
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Scientific Programming Analyst
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
(Non-Profit; 501-1000 employees; Research industry)
August 1984 — April 1998 (13 years 9 months)
Performed a variety of duties, first at the VLA site, then at the 12-meter in Arizona, and ultimately at NRAO Headquarters in Charlottesville. These included worldwide responsibility for systems support of AIPS, the Astronomical Image Processing System that remains to this day the workhorse for data reduction and analysis of observations taken with the VLA and VLBA.
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Scientific Programmer
Space Telescope Science Institute
(Research industry)
May 1983 — July 1984 (1 year 3 months)
Worked on the SDAS software (the predecessor to the IRAF "stsdas" package). Continued the research started by my Ph.D., including paper publication and attendance at the AAS in Baltimore during this period.
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Research Assistant
Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory
(Educational Institution; 11-50 employees; Research industry)
1982 — May 1983 (1 year)
Post-Doctoral position, working on Speckle Interferometry (mostly on the software necessary for auto- and cross-correlation).
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Research Scholar
Dunsink Observatory, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
(Research industry)
September 1978 — December 1981 (3 years 4 months)
This was a Graduate Student position that enabled me to complete a Master's degree in Astronomy (analysing triaxiality in Elliptical Galaxies and the effect on isophotometry), and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics (CCD Camera Observations of X-ray emitting Clusters of Galaxies). The observational work for the Ph.D. was carried out at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Mount Hopkins (now Whipple) Observatory. The equipment used was among the earliest CCD cameras used for Astronomy. A scholarship from the International Astronomical Union made the observations possible.
Patrick Murphy’s Education
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University College Dublin
1974 — 1982
Additional Information
Patrick Murphy’s Websites:
Patrick Murphy’s Interests:
Open Source computing, Linux, web technology, computer security, photography, Astronomy (amateur and professional), Irish culture
Patrick Murphy’s Groups:
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University College Dublin (UCD) member -
FOSS Professionals member -
University College Dublin Alumni member
Patrick Murphy’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- new ventures
- expertise requests
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
