My research lies at the intersection of astrophysics and software engineering. As an astrophysicist, I study how galaxies evolve; in particular, I investigate how supernova explosions and other energetic phenomena blow gas out of star-forming galaxies (like our own Milky Way), affecting the rate at which those galaxies form new stars and build up mass over cosmic time. To do this, I have developed a code to run computer models of galaxies on the world’s fastest supercomputers. Taking advantage of the computational power of these machines requires software that can run on graphics processing units – specialized hardware that can speed up calculations by orders of magnitude. This extra efficiency allows us to run extremely high resolution simulations that capture the finest details of evolving galaxies, addressing a host of previously unresolved problems in galaxy evolution.