Towards enabling delay-tolerant satellite communications in uncertain space environments, I was re-hired back at NASA as part of the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program to expand the algorithmic theory on time-dependent routing. My research focused on incorporating additional geometric assumptions into routing models built for delay- and disruption-tolerant networks, particularly in the low Earth orbit regime.

In 2017, I joined with a local research group under Dr. Ryan Kramer as part of AFRL’s Human Performance Wing to explore and expand the intersection between algorithms in TDA and machine learning. My time there was focused on implementing and extending the Mapper algorithm, a topological method that reframes common data analysis tasks as problems of analyzing level sets on topological spaces (introduction available here).

My research was centered around enabling the efficient construction of mappers in multiscale settings and on understanding the connections the Mapper algorithm had to other existing constructions, such as Reeb graphs, nerve complexes, and hierarchical clustering. Beyond learning the theory and developing the software, I also applied Mapper to various geospatial and image analysis tasks, such as video segmentation, object recognition, and clustering.

I was hired by Dr. Steven Arnold under NASAs 10-week LERCIP program to use machine learning to accelerate the simulation-based design of materials and structures through multiscale modeling, in line with NASA’s 2040 vision.

Towards the end of my undergraduate degree, my contract at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) was extended under ORISE, where I continued working with the LOREnet group under Dr. Andrew Terzuoli. During this time I primarily worked with Dr. Scott Nykl on the development of a novel Iterative Closest Point algorithm amenable to massive parallelization, implemented in C++/CUDA, for the purposes of enabling real-time tracking of aircraft in the context of Autonomous Aerial Refueling.

Example projects included, but were not limited too:

Under the guidance of Dr. Andrew Terzuoli, I was hired at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) to do research in a multi-disciplinary team called the Low Orbitals Radar and Electromagnetism (LOREnet) group, where I worked on a diverse set of projects involving computational, statistical, or physics-based requirements. As my first research-oriented experience, I primarily assisted graduate students with programmatic or computationally-intensive tasks.

Example projects included, but were not limited too: