Charles Griffin

6721 N. Altos Segundo

Tucson, AZ 85718

(520) 240-6295
CharlieGriffin@email.Arizona.edu

Work/Research Experience
7/2015 Present
Pryzm Labs: Optical Engineer
Designing custom lenses with specialized properties using a hybrid analytical and software approach
Improving current lens designs, solving problems, and communicating with marketing teams to maximize UX
Proposing new products and solutions to virtual reality, visual, and optics departments at tech companies
7/2014 Present
U of A Department of Physics: Research Assistant
Principal Investigator of a theoretical solid state physics project, currently writing paper/submitting to journals
Independently developed software to simulate quantum mechanical systems
Benchmarked my simulation with existing published results to verify its validity
Collaborated with Prof. Stafford (3 patents, 86 publications) to develop analytical explanations of results
7/2015 Present
TheCharlieGriffin.com: Accelerated Learner/Self-Experimenter/Blogger
Learning four years worth of computer science (MIT), developing an app, building a business, attempting to
join the top 5% of vert skateboarders, creating a YouTube series and more, all in only 6 months
Independent project, with the goal of developing a better/faster method for learning/skill acquisition
5/2014 9/2014
National Science Foundation (LSU): REU Intern
Computational solid state/condensed matter theory physics research
Developed software as a team to quantitatively verify a mean field theory; Presented & Published as
Numerically Exact Benchmarking of TMTDCA in the Proceedings of Louisiana EPSCoR RII LA-SIGMA 2014
Wrote software to simulate disordered solid state systems; used to investigate the Anderson Transition;
Presented results to hundreds of undergraduate, graduate, and faculty research as a research poster
9/2013 5/2014
NASA: Space Grant Intern
Investigated the assumption that some galaxies in the early universe have young stellar populations, which
drastically (typically 2 orders of magnitude) changes the derived physical properties with Dr. Eiichi Egami
Added the effects of young stars to a code that fits photometry measurements (taken with Spitzer, Hubble,
and other space telescopes) to see how it changed the derived physical parameters
Presented results at the 2014 NASA Space Grant Statewide Symposium
5/2012 9/2013
EGAMI Group: Undergraduate Research Assistant
Developed a piece of software that automatically combines observations from the Herschel Lensing Survey
with available observations from previous sky surveys, processes and labels them to produce finding charts
of the source over different wavelength ranges, to quickly identify potentially gravitationally lensed galaxies
Participated in observing runs at some of the largest optical telescopes in the world: LBT, MMT

Education
9/2011 5/2015
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
B.S. Triple Major in Astronomy, Physics, and Mathematics (Probability & Statistics Focus). GPA. 3.954
Awarded: Outstanding Senior Award (Valedictorian) in the Department of Astronomy, Outstanding Senior
Award (Valedictorian) in the Department of Physics, ranked top 4 in COS
Coursework: Quantum Theory I & II, Theory of Statistics, Graduate Nuclear Physics, Computational Physics,
Theory of Probability, Real Analysis, Theoretical Astrophysics I & II, Experimental Physics I & II, Thermal &
Statistical Physics, Electricity & Magnetism I & II, Linear Algebra, Theoretical Mechanics, Astrophysics I & II,
ODE/Stability Theory, Observational Astronomy, Biophysics

Technical Experience
Projects
Stochastic Quantum Transport Simulation (2014 Present). Monte Carlo simulation of the
thermoelectric properties of microscopic quantum conductors. Randomly realized disorder (adjacency
matrices) to deliver realistic and statistically significant results. Python
Semi-Conductor Simulation (2014). Explored and added new features to a simulation of the transition
from a conductor to an insulator to improve runtime and ensure realistic results. Fortran, Python
Observation of a Transiting Binary Star System (2013). Planed observing run, operated Kuiper 61
telescope, converted raw electronic data from CCD to processed images, produced a light curve that placed
tighter constraints physical properties of the system, error handled with Monte Carlo simulation. IRAF, C
Languages and Technologies
Python; C; Fortran; IRAF; IDL; DS9; HyperZ; Bash Scripting; Maestro
More at CharlieGriffin.Weebly.com/Resume