Rate My Professor Peter Higbee

Peter Higbee is an eResearch Solutions Engineer and Systems Engineer at the University of Otago, serving in the Information Technology Services Division as Engineer Research and Teaching Solutions. Located in Dunedin, New Zealand, he specializes in dedicated research IT and high-performance computing systems engineering. Higbee manages HPC systems, storage solutions, and user support for research and teaching computing environments. His expertise in Linux, systems administration, and related technologies supports researchers across various disciplines by providing reliable access to advanced computational infrastructure.

With a professional background in Earth Science, Higbee's career includes education at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Earth Science from 1996 to 2000, and an Associate of Arts in Environmental Science from College of Marin from 1993 to 1996. His early career featured a role as Lab Assistant at Berkeley Lab from 1999 to 2000. From 2005 to 2012, he worked as IT Consultant at Tech Tonics LLC. Joining the University of Otago in 2013 as Systems Engineer, a position he held until 2018 and resumed in 2021, Higbee also served as Operations Manager at NZ Security Cards from 2018 to 2021. Since 2025, he has been eResearch Solutions Engineer. Higbee's contributions extend to collaborations with NeSI, where he was listed as Software and Systems Engineer in 2013, aiding in data transfer clusters and technological advancements. He has delivered presentations, such as on integrating Open OnDemand with Otago's research and teaching clusters in 2025. Frequently acknowledged for technical IT support in peer-reviewed publications, including the Cryo-EM structure of the Seneca Valley virus A-particle (2025), Ejectosome of Pectobacterium bacteriophage ΦM1 (2024), and DET1 dynamics underlying co-operative ubiquitination (2024), Higbee enables impactful research in structural biology, microbiology, and biochemistry at the University of Otago.