Aaron Berndsen

Aaron Berndsen has worked in a variety of roles in the fields of data science and actuarial systems. Aaron began their career in 2007 as an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at Simon Fraser University, where they investigated the effects of topological defects on 21 cm emission and explored matrix-models of inflation. In 2009, they became a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of British Columbia, where they adapted and implemented pulsar observing strategies for many-element interferometers, designed a machine learning system to identify pulsar candidates, and devised a Bayesian method of combining correlated datasets. In 2013, they worked as a Researcher at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, where they adapted and implemented auto- and cross-correlation code for very long baseline interferometry.

From 2014 to 2019, Aaron Berndsen worked at Manulife in a variety of roles, including Director of Actuarial Systems, Analytics and Innovation, High Performance Computing Specialist, and Actuarial Systems Director. In these roles, they managed GGY AXIS GridLink Farms, led the design, installation, and rollout of migrating all actuarial compute platform into the cloud, and developed an in-house automated cloud-scaling solution.

In 2019, Aaron Berndsen joined Genworth, where they worked as a Data Scientist. In this role, they wrote a Cobol-to-Python parser and developed an updated Mortality Table, exploring machine learning and more-traditional generalized linear models to characterize company experience. In 2021, they joined Anno.Ai as a Senior Data Scientist.

Aaron Berndsen completed their Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Honours Physics and Astronomy, minor Mathematics at the University of Victoria from 1996 to 2001. Aaron then continued their studies at McGill University where they earned their Master of Science (MSc) in Physics from 2001 to 2003. Finally, they completed their Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in High Energy Theoretical Physics at McGill University from 2003 to 2007.