My goal is to build autonomous machines that can serve as trusted teammates and partners to human users. To that end, my research has focused on two main areas:

Competency self-assessments for autonomous systems: My thesis work focused on developing a suite of algorithms that use statistical techniques to help autonomous robots quantify their own capabilities and limitations. I am interested in (1) how we can leverage knowledge of a robot’s existing models, planners, and control policies to make predictions about their competencies, and (2) how communication of competency assessments can influence decision-making within a human-robot/machine team.

Mission planning and decision support: We developed several experimental mission planning tools in order to evaluate competency-aware ground robots both in laboratory and field environments. We also worked with the United States Space Force to develop decision aids and related algorithms for remote sensing and data exploitation missions. The primary goal being to explore how autonomy can augment human operators, provide them with the information they need to make informed decisions, and improve task or mission performance.

I have spent several years in aerospace R&D working on many cool things including Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) mission planning, battlespace decision-support, and space-based remote sensing. I also spent a few years in the US Army Airborne Infantry adventuring throughout the world and jumping out of perfectly good aircraft.

I received my B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (2014), my M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell (2018), and my Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder (2024). While at CU, I was co-advised by Dr. Nisar Ahmed and Dr. Daniel Szafir. I was part of the Cooperative Human Robot Intelligence (COHRINT) Laboratory and the Interactive Robotics and Novel Technologies (IRON) Laboratory.