About Me

I am a researcher working at the intersection of engineering and operations research. I obtained my PhD in aerospace engineering from MIT in January 2022, working on methods for global and robust optimization methods for engineering design. A majority of my graduate work is open source and available here.

Since May 2022, I have been applying my skills at MITRE in the Decision Analytics Group, where I hope to have an impact in the public sector. My current focus is on the application of operations research methods to address problems in aviation safety, in work sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Most recently, I have been studying how ATC-staffing-related factors impact the likelihood of risky events in the National Airspace System (NAS) using Bayesian causal methods. I am also developing a number of modeling techniques for evaluating the safety and efficacy of separation standards in the NAS.

In my Master’s and PhD work, I was particularly motivated by the potential of optimization in improving the engineering design process. I used geometric programming and its non-log-convex extension signomial programming to tackle conceptual engineering design problems. I implemented robust optimization (RO) in engineering design and explored how RO improves engineering design decisions under uncertainty. Later in my PhD, I used machine learning methods to enable global optimization over arbitrary nonconvex, black box and data driven constraints. I was advised by Prof. Dimitris Bertsimas, Prof. Mark Drela, and Principal Research Engineer Robert Haimes.