Hi! My full name is Bernhard Manfred Gruber. I am, in principle, a software engineer with quite some research experience over the years.

Skills

If I had to describe my skills with only a few terms, those would be some:

  • C++
  • GPGPU programming
  • parallel and concurrent programming
  • performance optimization and portability
  • library design
  • meta programming
  • refactoring and upgrading legacy code
  • automated testing
  • cross platform development
  • 3D geometry
  • 3D visualization using OpenGL and raycasting

Professional activities

Here is a short overview of my professional activities:

  • Currently, since 3.5 years, I am pursuing my PhD in the software for experimental physics group, EP-SFT, at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, on the subject of data layout optimization for heterogeneous codes in HPC. Together with the Technical University Dresden, the Helmholz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, and the CASUS institute.
  • Before, I was a fellow at CERN in the industrial controls - application section of the beams department, running the LHC accelerator complex. I worked on cryogenic instrumentation and magnet supervision software, firmware for field equipment, all using industrial communication protocols.
  • Before CERN, I stayed in lovely Upper Austria, working for RISC Software GmbH. I developed GPU accelerated visualizations for material removal simulations, parallel surface reconstruction algorithms, various software components for aircraft predesign, and led a project for wood cutting tool design.
  • I taught several semesters at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, including courses on C++ programming and mathematical foundations for software engineering.

You can find more, including more details on the projects I have worked on, on my LinkedIn page.

Open-source

I like open-source software and open-source development. The world relies on so much open-source technology these days, something I like to call the “digital world infrastructure”, that I can only find it right to give something back. I try to contribute bug reports and patches whenever I tumble over issues, and every once in a while add a feature somewhere, when time allows. Additionally, I have some open-source projects myself. You can find more on my GitHub profile.

WG21

Since 2022, I am a voting member on the ISO C++ committee (WG21). I focus my energy on proposals related to data layout optimization, concurrency, SIMD, meta programming, and reflection. When possible, I tinker with and provide feedback to proposal implementations, like reflection, std::mdspan or std::simd.

Even though it takes a lot of time and effort to push something through the committee, for me, it is one of the most impactful channels to give something back to the world. We only got so far because great minds before us laid out the way and built a solid foundation on which the world rests. I would be humbled to contribute to making this foundation better.

Private life

On the private side, I am happily married and have two plus one cats. I enjoy nature a lot, which eventually drew me back into my home country, Austria, where my wife and me bought a picturesque plot surrounded by lakes, forests and mountains.

Sports is a big part of my character, staying about a decade in wrestling, followed by several years of freerunning and acrobatics, mixed with occasional strength training, hiking, swimming, climbing, via ferrata, alpinism, Battojutsu, and whatever else I got curious about :)