We are happy to announce that Dr. Loren Bruns Jr. has joined AURIN as our eInfrastructure Team Lead. Loren brings more than two decades of experience in both web-based software development and academic research. This background gives him a unique ability to understand and communicate with both domain experts and software developers at a deep level, allowing him to quickly and efficiently multiply research outputs with modern software design.
While at the University of Melbourne, Loren worked independently with a diverse range of clients to design, implement, and co-author papers on their research software engineering projects. These projects have included BetterBrains, where he served as an associate investigator and principal developer on the BetterBrains Trial, a five-year, $1.5 million first-of-its-kind Australian clinical trial designed to delay cognitive decline in middle-aged adults through the remote (i.e. digital) delivery of person-centred behaviour modification strategies, and the Australasian Diabetes Data Network, where he was the sole developer and architect of the online registry, clinical benchmarking and research platform for Type 1 Diabetes. It is currently in its tenth year and third round of funding from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Australian Government.
Before pivoting to research software engineering, Loren completed a PhD in astrophysics at the University of Melbourne that culminated in the publication of his doctoral thesis, entitled “Lyα emitters as a probe of galaxy formation and ionisation history.” This work aimed to test theories of early galaxy formation and evaporation during the cosmic dark ages by use of novel tunable frequency imaging of high-redshift quasars and smaller Ly-alpha emitting galaxies in their local environs.
“I have taken a keen interest in AURIN and its potential as a research multiplier during my time as both an academic and professional within the University of Melbourne. I am a strong advocate for giving people and institutions the ability to make informed, research-based decisions, especially in the public sector. The potential for AURIN to support translational research to inform better decision making in Australian cities and regions is significant. I will find great satisfaction in helping the AURIN platform become a ubiquitous tool used in research-based public policy creation and debate,” Loren says.
Loren is passionate about translating research into tangible outcomes outside of academia, particularly in helping push society towards a more sustainable and egalitarian future on this planet and those planets not yet settled.