Dr Tom Crick

My research interests lie at the intersection of hardware and software and the performance of each: next-generation microprocessor design, compilers and code optimisation, concurrency and multicore processors, embedded systems and high performance computing. I am also interested in the broader research area of knowledge representation and reasoning, intelligent systems and declarative problem-solving using logic programming. My doctoral research at the University of Bath (2009) developed a framework for provably optimal code generation using a technique known as superoptimisation. This framework used the declarative logic programming language Answer Set Programming (ASP), a form of non-monotonic reasoning and regarded as a primary candidate for effective knowledge representation.

I have previously worked as a research associate at the University of Bath on ALIVE (Coordination, Organisation and Model Driven Approaches for Dynamic, Flexible, Robust Software and Services Engineering), a project funded under the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP7); the EPSRC-funded network AgentcitiesUK.net; and the @LIS TechNET project (Advanced Technology Demonstration Network for Education and Cultural Applications in Europe and Latin America), funded under the European Commission Fifth Framework Programme (FP5). I have also worked as an industrial research intern at ARM in Cambridge, the world’s leading microprocessor IP supplier.

I am currently involved in HiPEAC, the European Network of Excellence on High Performance and Embedded Architecture and Compilation (again funded under FP7) and also a member of WIMCS, the Wales Institute of Mathematical and Computational Sciences.

I am heavily involved in changing computing education in the UK: I am the Chair in Wales of Computing at School (CAS), an organisation that promotes and supports the teaching of computer science in UK schools. I sit on BCS Council, the strategic advisory body of the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, as well as the Education Committee of the BCS Academy of Computing, the learned society dedicated to advancing computing as an academic discipline. I am also the Chair of the BCS Young Professionals Group (YPG).

I also have a strong interest in science policy, science communication and public engagement: I sit on the Board of Directors of the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), the leading independent advocate for science and engineering in the UK; I am also a Trustee and member of Council of the British Science Association. I was a 2011 British Science Association Media Fellow, working with BBC Wales.

I am the Undergraduate Admissions Tutor for all of the Computing and Information Systems degree programmes here at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Follow me on Twitter (@DrTomCrick) or read my blog.

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