Dylan A
- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at Stanford University

Expertise

Decision making under uncertainty, algorithms, aviation, computer science, aerospace

Bio

My primary research interests involve decision making under uncertainty and the algorithms to enable computers to make decisions while factoring in uncertainty. I am also interested in the collaboration and coordination of humans and computers when making decisions. I believe computers and humans have strengths in different areas and I am interested in increasing human/computer collaboration to take advantage of both. When I am not researching decision making, I enjoy flying and exploring amazing places to eat! I also am an avid hiker. I have recently started rock climbing, though I have a long way to go before I would consider myself a "rock climber."

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Analysis of Game Strategies

When playing a board game, people often develop strategies from experience or from advice passed along from friends. However, games often involve a stochastic process and the best strategies can still lose. This project would explore different methods of analyzing different game strategies using statistical techniques and simulation-based approaches. Other options for this project include exploring ways to calculate optimal strategies or ways to defeat an opponent if their strategy is known.

Coding skills

Julia, Python, Matlab

Teaching experience

I volunteered to teach computer science at an after-school high school program focused on academic competitions. I also worked as a math tutor for Yup Technologies. The platform was all online and interacted with students through text-based communications. I am currently a Ph.D. student and mentor undergraduate students on research projects.

Credentials

Work experience

Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory (2021 - Current)

Ph.D. Student

United States Air Force (2018 - 2021)

F-22 Operational Test and Evaluation Pilot

United States Air Force (2011 - 2018)

Officer/F-22 Pilot

Education

United States Air Force Academy

BS Bachelor of Science (2011)

Astronautical Engineering and Mathematics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MS Master of Science (2013)

Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering

Stanford University

PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate