I am a PhD student and 2025 NDSEG Fellowship recipient, studying at the University of Colorado Boulder under Dr. Bradley Hayes from the Collaborative Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Laboratory and Dr. Christoffer Heckman from the Autonomous Robotics and Perception Group! I work on enahancing perception systems for autonomous vehicles (AVs) with an emphasis on robust AI/ML systems that are explainable and safe.

I started graduate school as a Master’s student, initially focused on RF engineering and signal integrity. Just one course in robotics and I was hooked! From that point on, I changed my curriculum to support my new goal of becoming a roboticist. I was lucky to meet Dr. Hayes and Dr. Heckman just a few months before the PhD deadline, and I’m thrilled to be co-advised by them!

Primary Research Interests

My recent work explores diffusion-based occupancy prediction for exploration, mapping, and long-horizon planning in mobile robots. I develop algorithms and AI models that enable mobile robots to perceive, predict, and act effectively in complex, partially observed, and egocentric environments. My work focuses on: multi-modal machine perception for 3D scene understanding, generative occupancy modeling, and Vision–Language–Action (VLA) models that unify perception, language, and control for grounded decision-making.

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Media

• CU Boulder Spotlight Article: NDSEG Fellowship
• Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship - Honorable Mention by Georgia Tech’s College of Computing
• “Space Innovators Gather @ Georgia Tech to Contemplate the Future”

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Skills & Strengths

• Effective written and oral communication for multi-disciplinary teams
• Balancing the need to work independently with knowing when and how to seek additional guidance and constructive feedback
• Mentorship and creating an inclusive and collaborative team environment