Home: San Francisco, CA. Age: 28. Birthplace: Chicago, IL. Profession: Machine Learning Research. Alma mater: University of California, Berkeley.
Current project: Independent Formal Methods and Machine Learning Research. Recent recognition: 1st ever recipient of the Harmonic Research Sponsorship. My math & AI exploration was featured on the TechCrunch front page. Latest accomplishment: I shipped a project called Symbolic Circuit Distillation, where I apply formal methods to interpretability to prove or disprove hypotheses about LLM functionality. Latest contribution to others: Open-sourced a dataset called GPT-Erdos, a collection of LLM responses to open math problems. I funded the project with a grant. What’s been your big (or biggest leap)? Leaving my job at Citadel to build a blockchain company.
Personality profile: INTJ. What one word would your closest friend use to describe you? Lighthearted. How do you define an ideal business relationship? High-trust. What natural talent have you neglected? Education. I have recently picked up TikTok to post educational videos, but I tutored many students growing up. What is your go-to workout? Running.
What was your first paying job? I tutored when I was in middle school. What was your favorite college course? Real Analysis. What book have you repeatedly read? Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche. What’s the best advice you received in your career? It's like chess: there's strategy and there's tactics. Spend your time building strategy and getting in the right position. Then, when a tactic reveals itself, exploit it. What company or organization do you most admire? The Irvine Company. Awesome town that's well-maintained.
What change are you working on to effect in your profession or field?
I want to apply rigorous methods like formal verification to machine learning to better improve safety, interpretability, and performance.
What widely held belief do you reject? That the disorder in San Francisco is permanent. What mega-trend most concerns you? I'm concerned that many people will suffer from a lack of meaning when they are no longer working.
What actor would you choose to play you in the movie about your life? Timothee Chalamet. After your loved ones, what object would you first save from your burning home? I actually hold very few to no material possessions. What day in your life would you choose to re-live? When I closed the Series A for my company, I had a great celebration that same night. What period in your life would you do differently, if you could? College years. I wish I took more challenging coursework.
Personal mission: Intellectual legacy. Favorite quote: "Look at your habits: Are they the product of innumerable little cowardice and lazinesses…or of you courage and inventive reason?" (Nietzsche).
