Max Shad, Ph.D.
Director for Engineering
Max Shad [Formerly Mahmood] is the Director of Engineering at the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence and University Research Computing and Data (RCD) at Harvard University. In this role, he leads the computational program of the Kempner Institute, ensuring the provision of advanced Research Computing (RC) tools/services and expert Research Software Engineering (RSE) support. His efforts are instrumental in leveraging High-Performance Computing (HPC), particularly in Machine Learning (ML) and AI research, to facilitate pioneering discoveries in AI, ML, and computational biology. Max continues supervising his team at University RCD, employing his expertise to build a world-class RSE team. His vision for the Kempner Institute involves strategic planning for HPC cluster compute/storage hardware and networking, collaborating closely with teams at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Research Computing (FASRC) at Harvard and the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC).
Prior to his current position, Max served as the Associate Director for Research Software Engineering at Harvard, where he led the establishment of Harvard’s first RSE team. His work has significantly advanced RSE, focusing on designing, building, and maintaining research software and data services in various domains. With a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (focusing on computational science and HPC) and a graduate certificate in Data Science and ML from Harvard, his research interests include computational complex fluids, HPC, AI/ML, and innovative big data analytics. As an active member in the RSE and HPC communities, Max has chaired several conferences and initiated the New England RSE regional group, advocating for idea exchange and collaboration among local RSE groups.
📩 max_shad@harvard.edu
Invited Talks
- “Supporting/Encouraging Collaboration within RSE Teams”, US-RSE Leaders Community Call, April 21, 2023.
- “Towards a Data Commons at Harvard” (joint talk with S. Yockel, E. Keskin), CaRCC Community Call, February 16, 2023.
- “Deciding Which Technologies to Adopt, and When”, Virtual Residency Workshop (Panel), June 9, 2021.
- “Building RSE Teams and Groups”, SC20: The RSE-HPC-2020 Workshop, November 12, 2020.
- “Big Data, Big Compute Solutions”, CaRCC Researcher-Facing Community Call, July 9, (Slides) 2020.
- “Mapping Research Requirements to Software Tools”, Virtual Residency Workshop, June 4, 2020.
- “The RSE Landscape”, US-RSE Virtual Workshop, Princeton University, April 22, 2020.
- “Data Intensive Dimensionality Reduction: GPU & CPU Implementations”, Harvard DataFest 2020, January 22, 2020.
- “Accelerating Neuroscience Research Utilizing Advanced Research Computing Resources”, Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, Seaport World Trade Center, Boston, MA; April 18, 2019.
- “Accelerating Neuroscience Research at Harvard University with Advanced Research Computing Solutions”, Life Sciences Field Day, Rockefeller University, New York, NY; September 27, 2018.
Selected Publications & Conference Proceedings
- M. Audirac, M. Bouzinier, D. Braun, M. M. Shad, S. Yockel, ”Systematic Approach to Preparing of Medical Claims Data for Biomedical Research”, Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC), ISMB/ECCB, 2023.
- S. Farokhirad, P. Solanky, M. M. Shad, “Spreading, Breakup, and Rebound Behaviors of Compound Droplets Impacting on Microstructured Substrates”, Langmuir, 39, 10, 3645–3655, 2023.
- M. Audirac, M. Bouzinier, D. Braun, M. M. Shad, S. Yockel, ”Reproducible data engineering pipelines using Common Workflow Language and Apache Airflow”, Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC), ISMB/ECCB, 2022.
- M. M. Shad, S. Yockel, ”Building Effective Research Software Engineering Teams”, US-RSE Workshop, May 24-27, 2021.
- “Research Software Engineering at Harvard University”, MGHPCC Virtual Booth at SC20, November 17, 2020.
- M. M. Shad, et al., ”How do RSE groups work?”, 2nd International RSE Leaders Workshop, September 15-16, 2020.
- M. M. Shad, R. Singh, S. Yockel, ”Accelerating Data-Driven Research at Harvard University by Advanced Research Computing Solutions”, HDSI Conference, Poster Session, October 23, 2019.
- M. M. Shad, T. Lee, ”Phase-field lattice Boltzmann modeling of boiling using a sharp-interface energy solver”, Physical Review E, 96, 013306, 2017.
- S. Farokhirad, M. M. Shad∗, T. Lee, ”Coalescence-induced jumping of immersed and suspended droplets on microstructured substrates”, European Journal of Computational Mechanics, 26, 205-223, 2017. ∗Equal Contribution
Professional & Community Services
| Role/Activity | Event | Year |
| Sponsorship Chair | US-RSE Conference 2023: Software Enabled Discovery and Beyond | 2023 |
| Program Committee | Research Software Engineers in HPC Workshop @ SC23 | 2023 |
| Technical Chair | US-RSE Virtual Workshop 2022 | 2022 |
| Program Committee | Research Software Engineers in HPC Workshop @ SC22 | 2022 |
| Member of Local/Regional Group | US-RSE Community Building Workshop | 2022 |
| Program Committee | Research Software Engineers in HPC Workshop @ SC21 | 2021 |
| Co-Chair, Posters and Lightning Talks | SORSE: International Series of Online Research Software Events | 2021 |
| Program Committee | Research Software Engineers in HPC Workshop @ SC20 | 2020 |
| Chairperson | Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, Data Computing Track 2 | 2019 |
| Reviewer | NeurIPS 2019 Workshop on Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences | 2019 |
| Journal Reviewer | Selected Journals: Computers and Fluids, Commun. in Computational Physics | |