Blaine Heffron

Blaine Heffron

Full Stack Developer and Technical Consultant

Biography

Blaine is a full-stack web developer and physics Ph.D. graduate with over 12 years of programming and research experience. He currently works with AhaLabs, focusing on building smart contracts for EquitX and developing tooling like scaffold-stellar, building on prior contributions to js-stellar-sdk, stellar-cli, and Loam. His expertise spans Rust for efficient systems programming, smart contract development, and TypeScript for scalable applications. His doctoral research involved signal processing, particle transport simulation, and radiation detection, culminating in a recent publication using machine learning to enhance signal-to-background ratios in the PROSPECT neutrino physics experiment.

Career highlights include developing products for API and database integration at CData, applying machine learning in neutrino physics, and providing technical consulting to optimize website functionality and SEO. Notably, he created a web app integrated with Google Sheets for wedding planning, streamlining event management. He serves as the lead developer for Songcraft, an educational game aiding children in learning to read and play music.

You can connect with him on Github or LinkedIn. Reach out to him directly via email at blaine@blaineheffron.com.

Interests
  • Data Analysis
  • Machine Learning & AI
  • Process Optimization
  • Sustainable Energy
  • Supply Chain Analytics
Education

  • PhD in Physics, 2023

    University of Tennessee

  • MS in Physics, 2017

    University of Tennessee

  • BS in Physics, 2012

    University of North Carolina

Skills

Technical
Scientific Research
Python
Full Stack Web Development
Public Speaking
Machine Learning
Data ETL
Statistical Analysis
Particle Transport Simulation (Geant4, MCNP)
Radiation Detection
Hobbies
Kayaking
Cycling
Meditation
QiGong
Gaming
Piano
Reading
Hiking
Swimming

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Self-Employed
Full Stack Web Developer / Technical Consulting
Self-Employed
February 2023 – Present
Contracting work for resolving website issues for various clients, improving site functionality and boosting SEO ranking. Developed a web app integrating Google Sheets with a wedding planning interface, which streamlined event management processes and received positive feedback from dozens of users. Lead Full Stack Developer for an educational music game for children - Songcraft, helping bring in over $40k in funding.
 
 
 
 
 
University of Tennessee
Graduate Research Assistant
University of Tennessee
August 2019 – January 2023 Knoxville, TN
Planned and implemented experiment to determine radiation field of reactor using Ge detector, leading to significant improvement in understanding the spacial variation and sources of gamma backgrounds. Conducted advanced machine learning analysis to enhance neutrino signal for PROSPECT experiment, increasing effective statistics by over 3%. Mentored several undergraduates and graduate students, fostering their research skills and contributing to academic success.
 
 
 
 
 
Self-Employed
Web Developer Contractor
Self-Employed
January 2017 – September 2020
Designed and developed multifaceted websites and web applications for diverse clients, enhancing user experience and interaction by implementing responsive design principles and improving SEO ranking. Successfully maintained and updated the commercial website wythehotel.com for over 3 years, ensuring optimal performance, user engagement and consistent uptime. Co-developed and co-founded Staqqr, an ambitious platform for auctioning video game services. Despite its eventual closure, the experience offered substantial insights into startup dynamics and entrepreneurship while garnering great web development experience.
 
 
 
 
 
CData Software
Technical Support Engineer
CData Software
March 2018 – August 2019
Provided technical support that increased client satisfaction for database software services provided by CData. Earned promotion to lead support engineer, overseeing advanced support services for high priority clients. Developed a innovative product for integrating open API specified products with existing database connectivity tools.

Projects

Songcraft
Songcraft is a game made by music educators that helps children learn to read and play music.
Songcraft
Machine Learning for Event Reconstruction in the PROSPECT detector
An exploration of machine learning techniques used to reconstruct event energy, position, and particle classification in the face of missing detectors in the PROSPECT experiment.
Code Slides
Machine Learning for Event Reconstruction in the PROSPECT detector

Recent Publications

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M. Andriamirado, others (2025). Machine learning for single-ended event reconstruction in PROSPECT experiment. JINST.

Cite DOI arXiv

Hans Pieter Mumm, Manoa Andriamirado, Baha Balantekin, Christopher Bass, Ohana Benevides Rodrigues, Ethan Bernard, Nathaniel Bowden, Christopher Bryan, Rachel Carr, Timothy Classen, others (2024). Final Search for Short-Baseline Neutrino Oscillations with the PROSPECT-I Detector at HFIR. Hans Pieter Mumm, Manoa Andriamirado, Baha Balantekin, Christopher Bass~….

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Hans Mumm, Manoa Andriamirado, Baha Balantekin, Christopher Bass, Ohana Benevides Rodrigues, Ethan Bernard, Nathaniel Bowden, Christopher Bryan, Rachel Carr, Timothy Classen, others (2024). Reactor Antineutrino Directionality Measurement with the PROSPECT-I Detector. Hans Mumm, Manoa Andriamirado, Baha Balantekin, Christopher Bass, Ohana~….

Cite

M. Andriamirado, A. B. Balantekin, C. D. Bass, D. E. Bergeron, E. P. Bernard, N. S. Bowden, C. D. Bryan, R. Carr, T. Classen, A. J. Conant, G. Deichert, A. Delgado, M. V. Diwan, M. J. Dolinski, A. Erickson, B. T. Foust, J. K. Gaison, A. Galindo-Uribari, C. E. Gilbert, S. Gokhale, C. Grant, S. Hans, A. B. Hansell, K. M. Heeger, B. Heffron, D. E. Jaffe, S. Jayakumar, X. Ji, D. C. Jones, J. Koblanski, P. Kunkle, O. Kyzylova, D. LaBelle, C. E. Lane, T. J. Langford, J. LaRosa, B. R. Littlejohn, X. Lu, J. Maricic, M. P. Mendenhall, A. M. Meyer, R. Milincic, P. E. Mueller, H. P. Mumm, J. Napolitano, R. Neilson, J. A. Nikkel, S. Nour, J. L. Palomino Gallo, D. A. Pushin, X. Qian, C. Roca, R. Rosero, M. Searles, P. T. Surukuchi, F. Sutanto, M. A. Tyra, D. Venegas-Vargas, P. B. Weatherly, J. Wilhelmi, A. Woolverton, M. Yeh, C. Zhang, X. Zhang (2023). Final Measurement of the $^235mathrmU$ Antineutrino Energy Spectrum with the PROSPECT-I Detector at HFIR. Phys. Rev. Lett..

Cite DOI URL

M Andriamirado, AB Balantekin, CD Bass, DE Bergeron, EP Bernard, NS Bowden, CD Bryan, R Carr, T Classen, AJ Conant, others (2022). Calibration strategy of the PROSPECT-II detector with external and intrinsic sources. arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.09582.

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Contact

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