Joshua Auerbach

Hi there fellow SFI summer school participants. My name is Josh Auerbach. I am featured in the above picture with my dog Shaka.

I am in my 4th year of the Interdisciplinary PhD in Computer Science program at the University of Vermont where I am also active in the complex systems group. My main area of research is Evolutionary Robotics: using evolutionary algorithms to evolve complete robot brains and bodies. So my interests lie in evolution (biological and artificial), neural networks (biological and artificial), and a variety of other areas including dynamical systems and cognition. For more info about my research and to see my publications check out my website here

I have experience programming in many languages and am well versed in many modern genetic algorithms (and other forms of evolutionary computation/stochastic optimization) all of which may be useful for a variety of projects.

Besides my academic interests I love being outdoors. I am an avid fan of winter sports (mostly snowboarding, but sometimes skiing) not that I will get to do much of that this time of year. I also like to hike, mountain bike and to play volleyball and ultimate.

My other main interest is live music. I love going to see good musicians perform, and I am a fan of a wide range of styles. I hope to check out the local music scene while I am in Santa Fe.

I look forward to getting to know everyone and learning a lot!