I am a scientific software engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where I work on neutron scattering data reduction software for the Spallation Neutron Source. I serve as a gatekeeper for the Mantid Project, an international software project, and as a core contributor to SNAPRed, a Python-based scientific workflow for the highly-reconfigurable SNAP instrument.
Ph.D. in Physics (UNC Chapel Hill, 2022). Research background in computational astrophysics, focused on relativistic white dwarf asteroseismology.
- C++ (C++98 to C++20): performance-oriented code, numerical reliability; modern STL, and low-level considerations when needed
- Python: scientific workflows and data science, including Pydantic, FastAPI, and h5py
- Tooling: git, VS Code, GitHub Actions CI/CD, CxxTest/CTest, PyTest
-
My dissertation on white dwarf asteroseismology.
-
My CV intended for academic positions.
-
My resume intended for technical roles [source code by popular demand].
- numerical methods in physics
- general relativistic stellar structure and linear pulsations
- computer modeling of compact objects (neutron stars, white dwarfs)
My dissertation research required two codes to model the pulsations of white dwarf stars.
- THRAIN creates realistic WD models in Newtonian physics.
- GRPulse uses simple models, working in Newtonian, Post-Newtonian, and General Relativistic frameworks.
I am actively though slowly modernizing these: C++14, CxxTests, and GitHub CI/CD
-
Guthrie, M., Walsh, M. M., Travis, K. A., Boston, S. R., Caballero, D. L., Dinger, D. D., Elsarboukh, G., Hetrick, J. M., Savici, A. T., Peterson, P. F., et al. (2026-02).
SNAPRed: Reduction of multidimensional neutron time-of-flight diffraction data. SoftwareX.
doi:10.1016/j.softx.2025.102464 -
Boston, S. Reece, Evans, C. R., & Clemens, J. C. (2023).
Relativistic Corrections in White Dwarf Asteroseismology. The Astrophysical Journal.
doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acd446 -
Boston, S. Reece (2022).
Newtonian and Relativistic White Dwarf Asteroseismology. Ph.D. dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
UNC Library record
Full list at ORCID
I am from Atlanta, GA, and live in Tennessee with my wife Nelly, our son Ezekiel, and our daughter Lily. In my spare time I study physics, read fiction, and play old school dungeons and dragons (see my WIP game rules). I write a blog that was temporarily famous in 2012-2015 for its post about the Berenst#in Bears.