Mechanical engineer, student, researcher, aspiring roboticist, and avid hiker, I am dedicated to pursuing robotics research to solve meaningful problems. Currently a PhD Candidate in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, my primary research interests include developing fast, robust, and versatile methods for trajectory optimization for robotics applications. Together with my advisor Dr. Zachary Manchester and my colleagues in the Robotic Exploration Laboratory, I hope to use these methods to endow robotic systems with greater ability to interact with humans and the physical world in a safe, reliable, and predictable way.

I started my research with Dr. Manchester at Stanford University, where I had the privelage of collaborating with and learning from some of the brightest scholars in robotics and optimization. My Master’s coursework at Stanford focused on automatic control, optimization, robotics, and some machine learning.

As an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Brigham Young University, my research in computational methods for characterizing the microstructure of materials inspired me to pursue a career in research, while my classes in computer science, robotics, and work on the BYU Mars Rover Team helped me find my passion for robotics. I am excited to build upon these experiences as a PhD student at Stanford and now Carnegie Mellon Universities.

Awards

• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
• Stanford School of Engineering Fellowship
• Tau Beta Pi Academic Scholarship

For more information about my personal background and experience, please see my CV.