{"id":80,"date":"2018-12-21T20:48:45","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T20:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/tel\/ab\/?page_id=80"},"modified":"2021-04-03T19:50:55","modified_gmt":"2021-04-03T19:50:55","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/tel\/ab\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"243\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/tel\/ab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/07\/ab-6-e1595463688641.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"232\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/tel\/ab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/07\/ProfABurgerLogo-e1593887236625-768x232.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>Hi, I am a Professor in the <a style=\"font-family: 'Lucida Grande';font-size: 14px\" href=\"http:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/departments\/computer-science.htm\">Department of Computer Science<\/a> in the <a style=\"font-family: 'Lucida Grande';font-size: 14px\" href=\"http:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/index.htm\">School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences<\/a> at <a style=\"font-family: 'Lucida Grande';font-size: 14px\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hw.ac.uk\/\">Heriot-Watt University<\/a>, Edinburgh. These web pages tell you a bit about my work. I hope you find them useful, but if you want further information, don&#8217;t hesitate to get in touch.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Dr. Albert Burger, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"\">Research<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"\">Teaching<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"\">Admin<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tResearch<\/p>\n<p>Initially working on<strong> transaction models<\/strong> and <strong>concurrency control<\/strong> in <strong>parallel and distributed database systems<\/strong>, I moved into <strong>biomedical informatics<\/strong> in the mid 90&#8217;s. Since then my focus has been on <strong>biomedical atlases<\/strong>. I spent a considerable amount of time seconded to the MRC Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh, working on the Edinburgh Mouse Atlas Project (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.emouseatlas.org\">EMAP<\/a>), where I focused on issues related to the <strong>mouse embryo anatomy ontology<\/strong> and the use of<strong> semantic technologies for the integration of distributed atlasing systems<\/strong>. \u00a0More recently this has led to my involvement in the international <a href=\"https:\/\/www.humancellatlas.org\"><strong>Human Cell Atlas<\/strong><\/a> endeavour, specifically the creation of the <a href=\"https:\/\/helmsleytrust.org\/news\/scientists-create-%E2%80%9Cgut-cell-atlas%E2%80%9D-funding-helmsley-charitable-trust\"><strong>Gut Cell Atlas<\/strong><\/a>. My research now focuses on the computational aspects of developing a <strong>Common Coordinate Framework for the Gut Cell Atlas<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For further information on grants and publications, please follow the links in the navigation panel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTeaching<\/p>\n<p>My teaching experience started as an MSc and PhD student, when I taught <strong>introductory programming courses<\/strong>, initially at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and then at the University of Edinburgh. Since joining Heriot-Watt University as an academic I have taught at the UG and PG level, primarily in the areas of <strong>semantic web technologies<\/strong> and <strong>database systems<\/strong>, plus some courses in <strong>object-oriented\u00a0software development<\/strong> and <strong>bioinformatics<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Currently, like many of my colleagues around the world, I have shifted to delivering my courses <strong>online<\/strong>, which is both challenging and interesting. No doubt this will have a significant impact on how we teach at universities, even after the current coronavirus crisis has ended.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAdmin<\/p>\n<p>Like all academics I make contributions to the administrative activities in the department, ranging from a number of <strong>MSc Program Directorships<\/strong> to more senior roles as <strong>Deputy Head<\/strong> and then <strong>Head of the Department of Computer Science<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>From Academic Year 2020\/2021 I will be <b>Year Director<\/b> for our <b>final year undergraduate<\/b> and our final year <b>MEng in Software Engineering<\/b> students.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Now the hardness of this world slowly grinds your dreams away<br \/>Makin&#8217; a fool&#8217;s joke out of the promises we make<br \/>And what once seemed black and white turns to so many shades of gray<br \/>We lose ourselves in work to do and bills to pay<br \/>And it&#8217;s a ride, ride, ride, and there ain&#8217;t much cover<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>(from Bruce Springsteen, Blood Brothers)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi, I am a Professor in the Department of Computer Science in the School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. These web pages tell you a bit about my work. I hope you find them useful, but if you want further information, don&#8217;t hesitate to get in touch.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-80","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/tel\/ab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/tel\/ab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/tel\/ab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/tel\/ab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/tel\/ab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":144,"href":"https:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/tel\/ab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"https:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/tel\/ab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80\/revisions\/651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macs.hw.ac.uk\/tel\/ab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}