People

David Grimsman received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and he joined the faculty of Computer Science at BYU, all in 2021. Prior to that, he graduated from BYU with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Mathematics in 2006. He then went to work for BrainStorm, Inc., a software training company based out of American Fork, UT., training tens of thousands of people around the world–including Italy, Spain, Australia and Germany–on various software applications, eventually working on IT projects within the company. In 2013, he joined IDeA Labs as a graduate student, graduating in 2016 with a MS in Computer Science. In his free time, David enjoys his family and playing sports such as basketball, flag football, ultimate frisbee, and softball.

Research Interests: Distributed dynamic and multiagent systems, game theory, optimization over networks, network dynamic systems, etc. with applications to sports, security, and a rich variety of other applications.

Sean Warnick received his Ph.D. and S.M. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1995 and 2003, respectively, and his B.S.E. from Arizona State University in 1993. He attended ASU on scholarship from the Flinn Foundation, graduated summa cum laude, and was named the Outstanding Graduate of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He has also held visiting positions from Cambridge University (2006), the University of Maryland at College Park (2008), and the University of Luxembourg’s Centre for Systems Biomedicine (2014). Sean was named the Distinguished Visiting Professor by the National Security Agency three years in a row, 2008-2010, for his work with their Summer Program for Operations Research Technology, and he has consulted with various companies.

Research Interests: System’s Theory and Network Representation including: Model Reduction and Approximation, Identification/Learning from Data, Control, Optimization, and various applications

Gabriel Perry is pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science at BYU. He’s been a member of IDeA Labs since April 2023. As an undergraduate, he studied computer science and mathematics, with a strong focus in calculus and linear algebra, including differential equations, systems, and some functional analysis. His undergraduate research included application -specific matrix inversion, matrix multiplication algorithms, and some light number theory. He is currently a member of the ORES Lab and director of networking and social events for IDeA Labs.

A reformed computational physicist, Justin graduated in Physics and Astronomy in April 2023 after joining the lab for his final year. He is now studying in the masters program for computer science, with an interest and emphasis in machine learning, control theory, and game theory. He has experience with computational relativity and relativistic magnetohydrodynamics, and currently works on projects involving power grid vulnerabilities and resource allocation. In his free time he enjoys playing jazz piano and training in Krav Maga.

Brian is a recovering biologist, a graph theory groupie, and a student of anything that grows, learns, or evolves. He graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Bioinformatics from BYU in 2019, completed a master’s in Environmental Science at BYU in August, 2021, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science as a member of IDeA labs. He is excited to be researching relationships between network structure and parameter identifiability in systems as a means of understanding why large systems such as neural networks, protein interaction networks, and ecological networks organize themselves as they do. His previous research has involved leveraging signal processing and machine learning to characterize environmental controls of streamflow regime and stream water quality, as well as applying network theory to understand the effect of training on artificial neural network structures. Brian is also an avid swimmer, a composer of orchestral music, a mediocre cook, and a skilled botanist.

Tyler Burrows is a PhD student in Computer Science. He received his BS in Finance from BYU, and MBA from BYU with an emphasis in organizational theory and strategy, and an MRes in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from London Business School. His academic interests are in risk and uncertainty. Interesting applications for him include hospital systems, supply chains, organizational networks, and business “ecosystems.” Tyler’s research currently is looking at the effects that periods of extreme demand (such as in times of pandemics) have on hospital networks. Previous research has ranged from looking at complexity in the HR field (published 2016) to demonstrating why complex business ecosystems are unlikely to be successfully copied by competitors (unpublished masters thesis, 2019). Tyler also has interest in applying machine learning methods to business operations. Onse such project is developing a way using machine learning to establish a ‘success measure’ for business organizations, when it is otherwise assumed to be immeasurable (e.g. the success of a business ecosystem).

Tyler is otherwise interested in history (particularly economic and financial history), family history (especially on his Norwegian line), cycling, and volleyball.

Neal Munson is a careful reader, deep thinker, and active doer. He received his BS in Applied Computational Mathematics from BYU (2020), and worked for a year as a Data Scientist and Product Owner at a software consulting company. Neal is interested in applying machine learning, deep learning, and control theory to social problems. His masters research is focused on incentivizing cooperation in competitive environments. Neal is interested in entrepreneurship and social impact, and has taken on various roles in entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial ventures.

Logan is pursuing a graduate degree in computer science after earning a Bachelor of Science in economics. His main area of interest is financial markets where he is integrating modern machine learning techniques with financial theory. https://www.loganbnielsen.com/

Will Melville joined IDeA Labs in May 2019 while pursuing a B.S. in Applied and Computational Mathematics. He finished his B.S. in April 2020, and he is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Computer Science. His research focuses on mathematical and statistical analysis in baseball. Will got to work as a research and development intern for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2020, where he got within two wins of a World Series title. Since May 2021, he has been working with the Texas Rangers as an analytics apprentice.

Michael DeBuse is a PhD student in Computer Science. He received his MS in Computer Science from BYU in 2021. His academic interests are in Natural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, specifically in modeling narrative. His passion, however, is in writing, having drafted 8 full-length fiction novels over the past 11 years. His research combines his passion with his career aspirations. For his Masters Thesis, Michael developed a system that ingests a novel and outputs a narrative flow graph of that novel (a graph structure of scene relationships through the story). He hopes to get a career in research, continuing in the field of Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence.

Outside Computer Science and writing, his interests include video games, reading, cooking, art, politics, and the outdoors.

Jake is currently studying Information Systems at the Marriott School and hoping to get into the master’s program this Fall. He is currently competing on the Track and Field team, doing High Jump. Jake is from Sacramento, California, and is a big Kings fan even though they let him down every year.

Brandon is currently studying Applied and Computational Mathematics with an emphasis in financial markets. Beyond his experiences with Ensign Peak Advisors, BYU Silver Fund and IDeA Labs, Brandon seeks to continue using his love of math to make impactful decisions. In his free time, you might find Brandon hiking, snowboarding, or flying in a hot air balloon.

Micah is an undergraduate majoring in computer science with an emphasis in machine learning. He joined IDeA labs in 2023 to further his understanding in algorithmic decision processes and other various topics. He enjoys sports, games, math, reading, and spending time with family. Micah hopes to continue his education by pursuing a PhD in computer science immediately following his bachelors at BYU.

Matthew is an undergraduate computer science student with a minor in mathematics from San Jose, California. He joined IDeA labs in 2024 with an aim to learn and gain research experience, and is currently working in the Computational Biology and Environmental Systems Lab. Outside of computer science, Matthew is an amateur ornithologist, juggler, ultimate frisbee player, and cellist.

Andrew Criddle is a Computer Science major emphasizing in Machine Learning. He is from Williamsburg, Virginia. A member of IDeA Labs since December 2023, he is interested in applying Data Science methodologies to interdisciplinary projects. He also coordinates the cataloging of literature relevant to projects in the lab. In his free time, Andrew enjoys baking cookies and playing the guitar.

Dakota Mundell is an undergraduate student studying Mechanical Engineering. He joined IDeA Labs at the beginning of 2023 to collaborate with bee research in creating a robotic bee. Dakota is from Lewiston, Idaho. Outside of the lab he enjoys anything outdoors: camping, hiking, fishing, and hunting, restoring old cars, and spending time with his wife and family. He also grew up taking care of honeybees with his dad and grandpa. They have about 100 colonies and he hopes to keep beekeeping as a hobby after he graduates.

Isaac is an undergraduate in computer science with a data science emphasis with plans on going to graduate school to gain more understanding on machine learning and AI. He started working in IDeA Labs in 2023 with Tyler Burrows working on artificial intelligence applications to supply chains. In his free time (when he has it) Isaac enjoys reading fantasy fiction, watching shows, and hanging out with his wife.

Chloe is an undergraduate Applied Statistics major with plans of going into Actuarial Science. She is from the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia and enjoys spending time outdoors, and with her friends and family. She joined IDeA Labs in 2023 to explore her research interests in the business, finance, and insurance areas.

Jane is an undergraduate with a physics and astronomy major from San Diego, California. She joined IDeA Labs in 2023 to learn more about how mathematics and programming can be used to solve and analyze real world problems and ideas. In her free time she enjoys reading, making art, watching movies with friends, and exploring new places.

Sam Wise is a statistics major with an emphasis in data science and an economics minor. He is from Walnut Creek, California. He joined the lab in January 2023 in order to explore his love for sports through data analytics. Sam is a huge football fan, and also enjoys watching basketball and UFC. During his free time, he is either watching sports, movies, or playing video games with his friends.

Abram Aanderud is an undergraduate computer science major who joined the IDeA labs in 2022 to collaborate with the Beesearch team. His research interests include exploring the applications of machine learning and computer science to address environmental challenges. Abram enjoys video games, going on walks with his dog, and watching movies with his girlfriend.

Braden is an undergraduate student double-majoring in economics and mathematics with a minor in computer science. He loves learning about any of the many ways that math can help us to understand the workings of the world all around us and help to explain natural and social phenomena.

In his free time, Braden enjoys going for long walks, hiking with his wife and their dog, and watching the 1994 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s book “Persuasion”.

Koby is an undergraduate studying Computer Science with minors in linguistics and mathematics. His research interests include modeling misinformation and disinformation, and more broadly simulating systems with emergent behavior. In his free time he enjoys reading, learning new things, and hiking.

Jackson Jones is a Mechanical Engineering undergraduate who plans to pursue a Master’s degree in the same field after completing his Bachelor of Science. He joined IDeA Labs in June 2022 to work on a mechanical bee for the labs’ ongoing bee research.

Jackson is from St. Louis, MO and was raised in Mesquite, NV and Stansbury, UT. Outside of research he is a 3D printing hobbyist, DnD enthusiast, and ballroom dancer for one of BYU’s ensemble ballroom teams.

Joseph is an undergraduate student studying Computer Science and Neuroscience. His interests lie in studying the brain as a computational unit, interpreting nervous signals, and machine learning. Joseph enjoys listening to books, learning languages (programming and human), mountain biking, and traveling.

Noah is a senior Computer Science student emphasizing in Data Science and Machine Learning. His research interests include bioinformatics, Natural Language Processing and Cross-Cultural Privacy. In his spare time, he enjoys writing, creating music, reading, and spending time outdoors.

Sam is a student of Economics and Applied Mathematics. His research interests include microeconomics, macroeconomics, control theory, and applied math methods. He is a U.S. citizen but grew up in Jordan, South Africa, China, the United Kingdom, and India. He enjoys running, climbing, water sports, eating, funny youtube videos, going to art museums, and probably a lot of other things!

Tanner is majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. He is from Turlock, California. His interests include robotics, machine learning, embedded systems, entrepreneurship, business strategy, and agriculture. In his free time he enjoys swimming, playing water polo, and country swing dancing.

Eric Rose is a Computer Science major emphasizing in Data Science and minoring in Business. Eric joined IDeA Labs at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and has since spent time researching systemic risk in the healthcare sector, game theory, and dynamic pricing. He hopes to one day apply his passion for computer science, business, and research to the world of management consulting.

Eric is from Salt Lake City, Utah. In his spare time you can find him playing basketball and spikeball with friends. He also loves playing guitar and horseback riding with his wife, Amelia.

Jeremy is currently studying Applied and Computational Mathematics at BYU, with a concentration in Economics. He grew up in a variety of different places, but calls Tucson, Arizona his home. Jeremy joined IDeA Labs in 2021 after serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His main interests are learning how systems and control theory can be used to model and analyze economic behavior on both a micro and macroscopic scale. Outside of academics, Jeremy enjoys ultimate frisbee, climbing, tennis, and swimming.

Fritz is from Haiti. He is majoring in computer science and minoring in business. He joined IDea Labs in 2021 to explore more about how the principles of computer science can be applied to political science to enhance democracy in developing countries and around the world. He is the recipient of the Google Scholarship. He speaks French, Creole, English, Spanish, and Latin. Along with his full-time studies, he is on the Board of Directors at Foyer Coin Des Cieux, a non-profit organization in Haiti with international patterns that works to address the needs of Haitians in Saint-Marc, Haiti.

Caelen Miller is majoring in Computer Science, with a minor in Mandarin. He is from Kirkland, Washington and lived in Moscow Idaho beginning in high school. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day-Saints in Toronto Canada, speaking Mandarin. He joined the lab in the Winter of 2021. Beyond academics, his hobbies include running, ping pong, reading, and playing the piano.

Max joined the IDeA Labs in August 2020 to work with the Story Lab Research team. He is interested in artificial intelligence, its implementation, and language theory. He is earning an undergraduate degree in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics.

Max grew up across America, but has been happy to call Utah home for the past few years. He enjoys mountain biking, skiing, photography, writing, and reading. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Frankfurt Germany, and has a deep love for the German people and their culture.

James Larsen is studying Applied and Computational Mathematics at BYU. His family lives in Michigan, but he grew up in China (Chongqing and Shanghai). He speaks both Chinese and French and hopes to one day live overseas again. He is primarily interested in research involving systems and control theory applications in quantum computing, acoustics, or biology. When he is not doing school or work, you might find him longboarding around Provo or going on hikes with friends. He also loves playing piano and SCUBA diving.

Nathaniel Driggs is a math major from Oak Park, California. His main research interests are applications in finance and agriculture. He enjoys being a part of the leadership of the Math Finance Club, a sub club of the Finance Society in the Marriott School. Outside of academics, Nathaniel enjoys running, soccer, volleyball, and learning foreign languages. He speaks Chinese and Korean.

Sam is a graduate student whose studies focus on system identification and time series analysis.

Sam is from East Millcreek Utah. He enjoys hiking, skiing, and playing with his local band, The Wykees.

Alyssa Crezee is from Phoenix, Arizona. She earned her BA in Linguistics and secondary BS in Communication Disorders at BYU, graduating Magna Cum Laude. Research interests include first language acquisition, sign language, neurolinguistics, humor, and autism. Alyssa has been a member of IDeA Labs since winter of 2018, and has worked on lab projects regarding event information extraction, story timeline, narrative flow, and honeybee research. She has also produced copy text for the lab-sponsored BeeYU Community’s media at https://bees.byu.edu and @bees_at_byu Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Alyssa is the President of BYU Diabetes Club—she enjoys connecting with others in the diabetes community and advocating for disability rights and awareness. She is also a social media officer for BeeYU’s BYU Apiology Association. Alyssa is a member of Golden Key International Honor Society and BYU Delta Alpha Pi International Honors Society. Hobbies include country swing dancing, reading, kickboxing, and singing.

Griffin Holt is majoring in Computer Science with an emphasis in Data Science and a minor in Mathematics. His academic and professional interests are in the mathematics and applications of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Control Theory. He has been connected to IDeA Labs since Dr. Warnick taught him Intro to Computer Programming his freshman year, but he officially joined as a research assistant at the beginning of Fall 2020. Griffin’s research is focused on the design and construction of a machine-translation system for the interpretation of the bee “waggle dance” for a museum audience. (Look up “waggle dance” on Wikipedia or reach out if you are interested!)

In addition to being Vice President of the BYU Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery, Griffin loves to bike, ski, play baseball, and spend time with his wife and family. He speaks Bulgarian, Russian, and studied Chinese for five years. His goal after graduating in April 2022 is to attend graduate school where he can gain more expertise in the field of data science.

Parker Murray is an undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science with an emphasis in Data Science and minors in Physics and Korean. He joined IDeA Labs in August of 2021 and his academic interests involve information geometry, “sloppy” physics models, intelligible AI, and game theory. Prior to joining IDeA Labs, Parker worked as a software programmer and data engineer at Intricity, a software consulting firm based out of New York, and also served as the Software and Testing team lead on the 2020-21 BYU Mars Rover Team. Parker loves photography, videography, cooking, and general tinkering and exploration. Upon graduation he hopes to attend graduate school where he hopes to continue diving into the interdisciplinary applications of computer and data science.

Mads Reinhard started in IDeA labs in May 2018. At that time, she explored machine learning and image recognition. After leaving IDeA labs, Mads worked for a summer on a wildlife identification app in Dr. Farrell’s lab, and she now works with Dr. Page doing HCI research. She will graduate April 2022.

Bogdan Mukhametkaliev is an undergraduate student at BYU double-majoring in Economics and Mathematics. Throughout his educational career, he has also been heavily involved with the Marriott Business School as Information Systems TA and President of the Mathematical Finance Club. Bogdan joined the IDeA Labs at the beginning of summer 2019 and worked on Network Reconstruction projects involving finance, ecosystems, and cyber-security. His goal after graduation is to pursue a Ph.D. in Finance or Accounting.

Bogdan is the recipient of several academic scholarships such as Carton Infanger Scholarship and Hughes Foundation Scholarship. He was also admitted to the Dean’s list of College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences for academic success during the winter 2019 semester.

Bogdan was born and raised in an industrial city Izhevsk, Russia, after which he moved to Moscow, so big cities is his element. Aside from academic work, he enjoys playing tennis, hiking, and reading Russian Novels.

Dallin joined the IDeA labs in 2019 and graduated with an MS in Computer Science in 2021. He was introduced to Dr. Warnick when he took his Theory of Predictive Modeling class as a CS undergraduate and was enamored with the possibilities of data science combined with control theory. He worked on methods of systematic control of opinion in social networks, such as those formed by users of social media, in order to better safeguard free elections and democracy. He also helped build a system to convert recorded Zoom lessons into a timeline of speakers and significant events.

Brooks Butler is a Ph.D. student at Purdue under Dr. Philip E. Paré working on understanding the effects of transportation on the spread of COVID-19 as a propagator and a control mechanism. He earned his Bachelor of Science (2019) and Master of Science (2020) in Applied Physics and Computer Science, respectively, from Brigham Young University (BYU) where he studied using acoustic sensor data to identify and predict crowd emotional state using machine learning and control theory techniques. His research interests include predictive modeling, automatic control, acoustics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

Blake began working with IDeA Labs in September 2018. Blake graduated with a BS in Information Technology from BYU in 2018, and recently earned his MS in Computer Science. His research interests involved the intersection of cybersecurity, data science, and controls engineering. Blake recently completed a summer internship at Sandia National Laboratories and currently works as a security engineer for both the Church Educational System (CES) Security team at BYU and Achilles Heel Technologies. He also is an assistant instructor at Code180, an educational organization that helps non-technical professionals become more conversant in the technology space.

Bella joined IDeA Labs in April 2018 to work on the Event Annotating Research team. She is interested in understanding how language is used to accomplish specific purposes. Bella graduated from BYU in 2020 with her Bachelor’s, majoring in linguistics and minoring in TESOL. She hopes to pursue a Master’s Degree in Speech Pathology, and work as a Speech/Language Therapist. She is passionate about helping people find better ways that work for them to communicate their needs and their thoughts and desires.

Bella is from Carson City, Nevada. She loves music and learning about language and people. She served a mission in St.Louis, Missouri and loves to think about different ways people communicate and interact with each other.

Alexander Fabiano graduated from BYU as an economics major with minors in mathematics and business strategy. He got involved in various capacities at BYU as an economics TA, a VP of the Business Strategy Club, and a member of the Data Science and Management Consulting clubs. Alex started at IDeA Labs in late summer of 2017. His research interests lie in predictive medical systems and business organization analysis. He aspires to work in economic consulting, and eventually start his own medical technology company.

Alexander is from Mesa, Arizona and greatly enjoys the outdoors and physical activities such as backpacking, boxing, motorcycle racing, and running. His favorite books are Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and 1776 by David McCullough.

Humphrey Leung got his Bachelor of Science (2017) and Master of Science (2019) in Computer Science from Brigham Young University. His primary research interests are machine learning, deep learning, and network dynamics. His master thesis was titled “Necessary and Sufficient Conditions on State Transformations That Preserve the Causal Structure of LTI Dynamical Networks”, and it was presented at the 2018 CDC. He enjoys hiking and watching movies in his leisure time. In 2020 he joined the ECE department at Purdue to complete his Ph.D. studying networked epidemic dynamics.

Meilan is from China. She graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2014 with a BS in computer Science and a double minor in Information Systems and English as Second Language. Meilan is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Upsilon Pi Epsilon. Her team placed first in the ACM Programming Contest 2013, Hawaii Site, and ranked 24th in the Pacific Northwest Region. Meilan enjoys building mobile applications. As an undergraduate, she built an app for android-based devices called LDSApostles. In her free time, she enjoys reading and spending time with her family.

Emily earned a B.S. degree in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics and graduated with honors in the Fall of 2018. She began her research with IDeA labs in the Fall of 2016. Her research interests included ecological dynamics, and she researched the effects of invasive species and trophic cascades on different-sized ecosystems.

Emily is the recipient of several academic scholarships from BYU, the Computer Science Department, and the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

Emily is from San Diego, California and loves all things that have to do with the sun and the ocean. At BYU, she was an active member of the Anti-Human Trafficking club and the Environmental Science club. She also volunteered with the IRC (International Rescue Committee) in Salt Lake helping organize and run their New Roots program. In her spare time, Emily likes to read, hike, and shop.

Dane graduated from BYU in 2015 with his B.S in Genetics and Biotechnology with an emphasis in computer science. As an undergraduate he researched model reduction, specifically on the Wnt signaling pathway found in cell biology. During that time he also built software to aid in the model reduction process. After graduating, Dane worked at Indsidesales.com, where he created an SIP server used to test business VoIP phone systems and catch major issues before customers notice. Dane joined IdeaLabs in January of 2016 to further understand systems and dive deeper into model reduction research.

Charles is from Tiburon California and earned an undergraduate degree in Applied Computational Mathematics. In the past, Charles pursued research in hyperbolic knot theory, worked as a math TA, and ran an outdoor cafeteria in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He began studying at BYU in fall of 2010 and took a 2 year break to serve as a missionary in the Brazilian Amazon. Charles then returned to BYU to complete his undergraduate in mathematics. His interests are varied, including mathematics, health, social, and biological sciences, as well as his personal hobbies: reading and cooking.

Charles joined IDeA Labs in the fall of 2015, focusing his efforts in the area of cyber-infrastructure security. During the summer of 2017, Charles visited Oak Ridge National Laboratories to explore applications of control theory to vehicular cyber-security. Later that summer, he interned at Pacific Northwest National Laboratories researching applications of Koopman Operator Theory to the modern power grid. Charles is continued these veins of research, as well as research in mathematical notions of influence in social networks.

Jacob did his undergraduate degree in Computer Science (B.S.) at BYU with a focus in data science and machine learning. Prior to joining the IDeA Labs in the Fall of 2015, Jacob had had two summer internships working with data analysis and prediction modeling: RJR investments running statistical regressions to determine investment trends in syndicate deals associated with initial public offerings (2013) and Nav Inc. initiating and facilitating credit-score machine learning prediction modeling of the $1.1T US SMB lending market (2014-2015). Jacob founded and served as a president of the first BYU Data Science Club. Jacob also majored in Arabic Language (B.A.) as a part of his undergraduate experience. Jacob enjoys volunteering in an NGO helping Iraqi refugees, which he cofounded in 2014. Among his many scholarships and awards, Jacob was named a Crocker Innovation Fellow and a Kennedy Scholar, reflecting his passion for innovative technology and international development. After finishing his first degree in August 2016, Jacob continued with his graduate studies in Decision Theory, working with Dr. Sean Warnick as his supervisor.

Sean is from Springville, California and joined the BYU IDeA Labs in September 2015. After serving a mission for the LDS Church in Paraguay, he began studying at BYU in 2013 where he met his wife and best friend, Ashley. He graduated with a BS in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics in April 2016, and earned his PhD in Computer Science in April 2020.

In 2015, he completed an internship with Microsoft, working with the Trustworthy Computing security team for Microsoft Office. He implemented a feature to mitigate social engineering attacks involving VBA macros in Office files. In 2016, he worked with the Instructure Data Analytics team to create a framework to test production queries used to transform data for Instructure clients, as well as conducting preliminary work to identify struggling students with machine learning. Over the course of the summer of 2017, Sean worked with IDeA Labs alumnus Dr. Enoch Yeung as a PhD Intern at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The internship involved extended Dr. Yeung’s work in contingency analysis of municipal waters systems to integrated models of power and water infrastructure systems.

His most recent work with the lab involved the security and robustness of cyber-physical systems, including the implementation of this research into production software applications, as well as continuing the work of contingency analysis with integrated power and water infrastructure systems.

Mackenzie earned a B.S. in Mathematics with a minor in Chinese at BYU. Mackenzie also studied at Nanjing University in Nanjing, China during the Fall of 2014. Mackenzie joined IDeA Labs during the Fall 2015 semester with the interest of studying the connections between humanities and mathematics. She worked on modeling convergence in conversations as a stability analysis.

Mackenzie is from Plymouth, Minnesota, where she found her love for the outdoors. This has lead her to studying bushcraft, and she regularly goes on wilderness survival trips. She was a member of the HumorU stand-up comedy club at BYU where she tried her best to be funny.

Mackenzie is a member of the Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society, and also earned the BYU Mathematics Distinguished Student Award.

Vasu was born in Suva, Fiji, but grew up in Penrith, Australia, just outside of Sydney. He served in the New York, New York South Mission for the LDS church, Spanish speaking, before meeting his wife Leticia, a Japanese Brazilian, at BYU-Hawaii. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a double degree in Mathematics and Computer Science and a double minor in Information Technology and Information Systems with Honors. Vasu is a member of the prestigious honors societies Phi Kappa Phi and Upsilon Pi Epsilon, and has been the recipient of several scholarships including the BYUH Alumni Scholarship and the David O McKay Legacy Scholarship.

Vasu completed a PhD at Brigham Young University in the IDeA Labs and took leave from 2014-15 to work full-time for Applied Invention. His research interests include controls applications in farming, biology and wireless mesh networks as well as understanding the meaning of the structure of networks–with applications to structured controller design, vulnerability and network reconstruction. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer, reading, and spending time with his family.

Born and raised in Dallas, TX, Winston earned a degree in Computer Science at BYU. He began his involvement with IDeA Labs during Summer 2014. Winston enjoys learning about topics related to game theory and network reconstruction. The application of these principles in economic settings are of particular interest to him. In his spare time, Winston loves playing basketball, going fishing, and taking hikes.

Joel is from Laramie, WY and is the oldest of 10 children. He served a 2 year mission for the LDS Church in Moscow, Russia. Joel graduated with a BS in Mathematics at BYU in December 2016. Joel joined IDeA Labs during Fall 2014 and is interested in passive network reconstruction. He plans on pursuing a graduate degree in Mathematics.

Evan Argyle is from Pleasant Grove Utah. He served a two year mission for the LDS church in France. He graduated with his Bachelors in Applied and Computational Mathematics in April of 2016. Evan began working with Idea Labs in September of 2015. He is interested in Finance and Economics. Evan is a former BYU track athlete who also loves hiking and French cinema.

Samaneh was a Research Scholar in Mathematics and an Adjunct Researcher in Computer Science at Brigham Young University. She was born in Mashhad, Iran. She received her B.S in Applied Mathematics and contined to earn her Master’s degree in Pure Mathematics from the Khayyam University of Higher Education, Mashhad. She moved to Malaysia to do her Ph.D. at the University of Malaya.

She completed her Ph.D. in the field of Complex Analysis, specializing in Geometric Function Theory, which she defended in 2014. During her Ph.D. she derived new formulas based on Faber polynomials to expand the series of various classes of bi-univalent functions to determine an upper bound for the coefficients of their functions. She collaborated with some of the professors in the field of Complex and Harmonic Analysis.

In addition to teaching, she has taught various courses of Mathematics and Statistics at several universities in Iran as well as at the University of Malaya. She was a member of rowing and baseball teams in Malaysia. In her free time, she enjoys running, hiking, rowing and dancing.

Philip Paré was born in Boston, MA and raised in Cambridge, MA. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Mexico City. In August 2011, he married his wonderful wife and best friend, Annette. In August 2012, Philip graduated with honors with a degree in Mathematics and a minor in music. In Summer 2012, he interned at IM Flash Technologies, where he developed a selection methodology for LQG run-to-run observer cost functions that used a gradient-ascent-type algorithm to find Q and R weighting matrices to improve the production quality delivered by the run-to-run LQG control system. This methodology was implemented on an actual full-scale production dry etch process, and improved it by 15.68%.

In August 2014, he graduated with a Master’s degree in Computer Science. After graduating, Philip went to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to pursue a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering researching clustering and control of dynamic systems. This is a link to his webpage at Illinois.

Daniel joined IDeA Labs in January 2012. He completed a B.S. with honors in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics in 2014. Daniel also received the Nile R & Gail M Brown Scholarship. Daniel has interned at Google, Print Fulfillment Services, and Applied Minds. While at Google, he developed software to perform regression analysis of server utilization data across multiple dimensions. At Print Fulfillment Services, he researched and developed software to minimize the total cost of production in a factory by optimizing a mathematical formulation of their production process. At Applied Minds, Daniel’s work used machine learning techniques on large data sets in conjunction with an existing mechanistic model. Daniel’s research interests include mathematical optimization, dynamic systems, control theory, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and operations research. Daniel was accepted to a PhD program at Yale where he plans to study distributed control.

Nathan joined the IDeA Labs in 2011 and performed research in self-enforcing cooperation in a competitive supplier market, vulnerability in closed-loop systems, and farming as feedback-control. His research into vulnerability became the topic of his undergraduate thesis. Nathan graduated with honors in 2013 with degrees in Management (emphasis in Entrepreneurship) and Computer Science, with a minor in Mathematics.

After graduating, Nathan continued to study under Dr. Warnick in the IDeA Labs while pursuing a Master’s and a PhD in Computer Science, where his research centered around the representation, abstractions, and reconstruction of dynamic networks.

Nathan has been the recipient of a BYU full-tuition scholarship, the Chandler Joseph Jenkins Scholarship, and the Max T. and Rella R. Williams Endowed Scholarship in Entrepreneurial Studies. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Beta Gamma Sigma.

Denna is from Wyoming and is a senior majoring in Computer Science. She has been awarded several academic scholarships, including the National Merit Scholarship and several talent awards from the BYU School of Music. Denna joined the lab in Fall 2011 and was awarded an ORCA grant to study generating musical accompaniment to real-time improvisation of a soloist. Her research interests include machine learning through bipartite graph partitioning, feedback-control applications of language learning, and computer science perspectives on music composition. After graduating Denna went to work for a software company.

Anurag is from Kathmandu, Nepal. He came to BYU in the Winter of 2006 and studied Computer Science. He received a full tuition scholarship from BYU and was on the Dean’s List. He joined the IDeA labs in Fall 2008. In Summer 2009, he completed an 8-week long internship with Dr. Sandip Roy at Washington State University, where he worked on the initial condition estimation problem for synchronizing networks. He graduated with B.S. in Computer Science (Magna Cum Laude) in April 2010 and completed his Master’s degree in August 2012. His research focused on understanding the relationship between structure and robustness as well as designing structured stabilizing controllers for LTI systems. After graduating, he left to pursue a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT where he plans to work on designing optimal control policies for communication networks.

Julius Adebayo is from Nigeria. He graduated with a B.S. Honors Mechanical Engineering degree with minors in Chemistry, Math, and Computer Science. Julius joined the IDeA Labs in Fall 2010. He studied applied math, control theory, and quantitative methods applied to biological systems. He was awarded an ORCA grant to study different methods of reconstructing/reverse engineering biochemical pathways. During the summer of 2011, he participated in summer research at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School where he studied and compared different methods of network reconstruction, as well as the use of mathematical methods to expose the underlying behavior of biological pathways. He was a member of the BYU honors program, Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi, and the BYU International Students Association. He is an avid soccer fan, and enjoys playing ping pong from time to time. After graduating, Julius returned to Harvard University to continue the research from his internship.

Brigham received an MS in Computer Science and a BS in Mathematics and Economics from BYU. He was supported by the Department of Defense SMART Program, and the following scholarships: Robert K. Thomas, National Merit, Coca-Cola and Toyota Community. Brigham’s Master’s Thesis was titled “Infinitesimal Perturbation Analysis for the Capacitated Finite-Horizon Multi-period Multiproduct Newsvendor Problem.” His Honors Thesis was titled “Forecasting Political Instability: Control-theoretic Modeling of International Conflict.” He has worked for Infosys Tech. in Bangalore India, the Computation Institute at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Lab, and as a high school math teacher at Meridian School in Orem, UT. After graduating, Brigham continued on to pursue an MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Devon joined IDeA Labs in the Fall of 2009. In his time here, he modeled the complex symbiotic interactions within a leafcutter ant nest, developed a small population stochastic epidemiological model, and designed a control policy for an adaptive-rate video streaming client. In 2011, Devon received a baccalaureate from BYU in Computer Science with minors in Mathematics and Physics having been honored to receive the Brigham Young, Bicentennial, and Marigold N. Saunders scholarships. He went on to pursue a PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland as a Distinguished Graduate Fellow.

Daniel is from Shelby, Michigan and served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sendai, Japan. In 2011, he graduated magna cum laude and with honors with a B.S. in Mathematics and minors in Computer Science and Japanese. As an undergraduate, Daniel was an Elks National Foundation Scholar and the recipient of a full tuition academic scholarship from BYU. He is also a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and the Golden Key International Honour Society. Daniel was a member of IDeA Labs from 2008-11. As part of the Computational Economics and Financial Systems Lab, his research included analyzing portfolio optimization algorithms, using system identification methods to forecast stock prices, and using a multi-agent simulation to study the dynamics of a limit order book. This research culminated in the successful completion of Daniel’s Honors Thesis titled, “Learning and Control Techniques in Portfolio Optimization.” Daniel went on to pursue a master’s degree in Computer Science at BYU under the advisement of Dr. Michael Goodrich. He was a 2011 recipient of the Department of Defense SMART Scholarship, and has accepted a post-graduate research position at the Air Force Research Lab’s Information Directorate in Rome, NY.

Taylor Southwick is from Anacortes, Washington. He started his studies at BYU in the summer of 2005, and went for a year before going to Vladivostok, Russia to serve an LDS mission for two years. Taylor joined IDeA Labs in 2010, and his research interests include network reconstruction of bioregulatory networks, both theoretical and experimental. Previous research includes analysis of phylogenetic markers known as barcodes used to identify different species. He is married with a daughter. Taylor graduated with university honors in 2011 with a degree in bioinformatics and a minor in mathematics and began graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis Medical School as a Ph.D. candidate in Computational and Systems Biology in August 2011.

David is from Fruit Heights, UT, is married, and has two daughters. While still in high school, he earned his Associate degree from Weber State University. He served a mission for the LDS church in 2004-05 in the Chile Santiago West mission. He received his B.S. in Physics and Spanish Translation at BYU in 2009, with a minor in Mathematics. David was a member of IDeA Labs during his Master’s program 2009-11, after which he received his M.S. in Computer Science. His primary research while with the lab was in modeling wireless networks and designing optimal transmission rate controllers. After completing his Master’s, David moved to the Boston area with his family to work for MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the Airborne Networks Group.

Blake is from West Jordan, Utah. He served an LDS mission to Veracruz, Mexico from 2000-2002. He has been a teacher’s assistant for programming, data structures, and algorithm analysis. He had an internship with Symantec writing enhancements to existing security software from 2004-2005. He served as Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) chapter vice president and president from 2004-2006. He was BYU ACM programming champion and took 8th place at the ACM regional programming competition. He received the Wells Fargo Dependent Scholarship for two years. He earned a full tuition scholarship to BYU, and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in April 2006. Blake joined the research group in January 2006, and has worked on the verification problem as well as the retail laboratory project. He defended his Master’s Thesis in March 2010 at BYU.

Enoch Yeung graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics, magna cum laude and with honors, from Brigham Young University in 2010. Upon graduating, Enoch was offered/awarded several PhD fellowships: an international scholarship to attend the University of Cambridge, a CCDC fellowship at UC Santa Barbara, a research fellowship at WSU, and an EAS fellowship at the California Institute of Technology. Enoch went on to pursue a PhD in Control and Dynamical Systems at the California Institute of Technology. His research interests include system identification, model reduction and controller synthesis for networked dynamical systems such as synthetic and in-vivo biological systems, the Internet, and social networks.

As an undergraduate, Enoch was awarded several BYU full/half tuition scholarships, a 2009-2010 Choose to Give scholarship, and an ORCA grant. Enoch used his ORCA grant to develop a theoretical framework for describing structure in linear-time-invariant dynamic systems. The primary contribution of this research was four graph-theoretic definitions of system structure and a set of results characterizing the relationships between these notions of structure. Enoch also lead several other research projects including: 1) the development of a model reduction procedure for dynamical structure functions using structured gramians 2) the development of a network reconstruction algorithm for dynamical structure functions using steady-state data. During the summer of 2009, Enoch worked with Sandip Roy, Mengran Xue, and Anurag Rai on the initial condition estimation problem for consensus networks.

Nathaniel is from Singapore, Singapore. He majored in Economics with minors in Mathematics and Strategy, and graduated in April 2010. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Malaysia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Nathaniel also served as the president of the BYU Singapore Association, and was formerly associated with the BYU Cycling Club, and the Economics Students Association. He was a member of the BYU Honors program and the Management Consulting Club. He has been the recipient of the Brigham Young scholarship, and was selected for the Dean’s List multiple times. In addition, Nathaniel and his team took third place in the BYU Private Equity Case Competition, and was part of the BYU team that won the Outstanding Delegation award at the National Model United Nations Conference in New York. He joined the IDeA Labs in Spring 2008 and is working on the retail laboratory. Nathaniel enjoys eating, swimming, cycling, running, reading, and participating in triathlons in his spare time.

David Ward joined IDeA Labs in January 2009. Prior to joining IDeA Labs, he researched in the BYU Architecture Research, Design, and Description group researching scheduling algorithms that preserve data and temporal locality. In IDeA Labs, David analyzed the Baum-Welch algorithm, explored the implications on the decentralized control problem of assuming weak structural information, and researched decentralized coalition formation in economic markets. David’s research interests lie in the general area of control in communication constrained environments. David is particularly interested in the impacts of communication constraints in competitive and cooperative environments.

David received a full tuition scholarship from BYU and a scholarship from the International Society of Automation (ISA) in 2009. David received a grant to help support his research from the BYU Office of Research and Creative Activities. In 2010, he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Mathematics. David received the Clark School of Engineering Distinguished Graduate Fellowship from the University of Maryland and went there to pursue a PhD.

Nghia Tran came to BYU in 2002 from a plantation in Vietnam. He joined IDeA Labs in 2004 and was involved in many projects such as market structure analysis and demand forcasting. Nghia graduated with a BS degree in Computer Science in April 2006 and continued his research in optimal path-reparametrization and market structure analysis. Nghia received grants from the BYU Office of Research and Creative Activities and won several other honors, including 3rd place in the ACM Rocky Mountain Regional Programming Competition and honorable mention at the BYU Business Plan Competition. He defended his Master’s thesis here at BYU in August 2009.

Kara Yang is from Beijing, China and began studying at BYU in the fall of 2005. She graduated in 2009 with a BS in Mathematics. She received a BYU half-tuition scholarship and was on the international student honor roll. Kara joined IDeA Labs in the Summer of 2007 and was involved in a data mining project. Kara moved to Boston where her husband is a graduate student at MIT and she is preparing to apply for graduate school.

Sam received the BS in Computer Science at BYU in 2005 and defended his Master’s Thesis in computer science in 2008. He received the BYU half-tuition scholarship and was on the Dean’s List twice. He started working with IDeA Labs in May 2005. His main research thrust was in feedback systems and optimization methods. During the time he spent in the group, he was the lead student of the factory optimization and laser stabilization projects, and worked on the retail laboratory and path control projects. He also was one of the system administrators of the labs. Prior to that time, he worked as a teaching assistant for an operating systems class and as a student manager at BYU. After graduating from BYU, Sam went to work in industry.

Mark is from Lindon, Utah. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Mark spent summers in college as an intern for Citigroup, GE Consumer Finance, and Intel Corporation. He joined IDeA Labs in the summer of 2007, and began research in the Computational Economics and Financial Systems lab. His academic interests include stochastic processes, econometrics, and control theory. Mark graduated from BYU with bachelor’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics. Following graduation, he went on to pursue a Master’s of Science and Computational Finance from Carnegie Mellon University.

Russell Howes began his time at IDeA Labs in May of 2006, working in the Computational Biology and Environmental Systems lab on problems relating to identifying and constructing biological networks. He graduated from BYU in April 2008 in Mathematics. While at BYU, Russell was awarded grants from the BYU Office of Research and Creative Activities and the BYU Honors Department to support his work on dynamical structure functions. He was also a high scorer on the William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Exam in 2002, 2005, and 2006. Russell won both the NDSEG (Defense) and NSF fellowships. After graduation, Russell left to pursue his PhD from UCLA.

David was a recipient of the Gordon B. Hinckley Presidential Scholarship, the Micron Technology Scholarship, and the National Merit Scholarship. He maintained a high GPA and was inducted into the Golden Key and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies, in addition to being on the College of Physical and Mathematical Science’s Dean’s List every semester of his college career. David’s main interests center on the mathematics and algorithms used in accurately simulating physical and economical systems. At IDeA Labs, he was involved in a variety of economics-related research. Following graduation, Dave went to work at National Instruments, working on Controls Software.

Casey joined IDeA Labs in November 2005. While at IDeA Labs, Casey actively participated in research involving time-series and econometric analysis with a particular emphasis on subspace identification methods. In 2006, Casey helped to instigate the Tour de Finance, a novel inter-university equity-portfolio management competition that is regulated and scored by a unique dynamical system that attempts to mimic the underlying dynamics of the mutual fund market. In culmination of this project, Casey presented a paper discussing the competition as a regulating dynamic system at the 2007 American Controls Conference in New York City and was awarded the best paper recognition for that session.

In August 2007, Casey graduated from BYU with a B.S. in Mathematics and Economics. In addition to earning multiple scholarships while at BYU, he was awarded the Mathematics Department’s “Outstanding Junior Honoree” award in 2005, and was awarded the Orson Pratt Prize in Mathematics–an award bestowed annually by BYU’s Mathematics Department to its top graduating senior–in 2007. Following graduation, Casey went on to pursue a PhD at the University of Chicago in Economics with a particular emphasis in Asset Pricing and Macroeconomic Dynamics.

Pedro was born in Mexicali, Mexico and is more recently from El Centro, CA. He served a mission in the Houston, Texas Mission from 2002-2004. Pedro graduated from BYU in Dec. 2007 with a BS in Computer Science. While at BYU he was involved in researching the relationship between electoral markets and their ability to forecast presidential elections in conjunction with economic and social factors. From 2000-2002 and from 2005-2007, Pedro was a recipient of the Multi-cultural Leadership Award, a full-tuition scholarship from BYU.

After graduation, Pedro went to earn his JD from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Tom is a proud father of one from a small town outside of Fort Worth, Texas. He graduated in December 2007 with a BS in Mathematics and a BA in Economics. He then went to work for TAC Americas, a western hemisphere-wide company that provides energy and security solutions. He was hired to work for their Performance Assurance Group, doing trouble shooting and statistical modeling. He plans on pursuing a master’s degree in Mathematics or Statistics followed by a Ph.D in Economics or Operations Research. His academic interests range from financial economics, macroeconomic theory, industrial organization, and agricultural regulation to analysis, topology, and stochastic calculus. In October 2006 he competed in the FTI Consulting Competition Case Finals, where his team took second. Tom joined IDeA Labs in September 2006, and was involved in the Computational Economics and Financial Systems Lab and the Policy Sciences and Human Systems Lab. He is fascinated by natural phenomena and seeks to find answers to everything he observes.

Matthew began research with IDeA Labs in November 2004. He initiated a research project with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation involving the modeling and control of Piute Dam in the Sevier River Basin of Utah. Matthew used this research to complete his honors thesis requirement and qualify for honors graduation. Matthew was also involved with the IDeA Labs demand forecasting group, as well as researching methods to forecast demand for the BYU Bookstore. His interests are system identification, feedback control, dynamic systems, demand forecasting, and game theory.

Matthew was a recipient of the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for 2005. He was also the recipient of two BYU Office of Research and Creative Activities grants for research and development of an appropriate software framework for web-based hydrological data display (2004) and the system identification process for Piute Dam/Sevier River (2005). Matthew also received other scholarships, including the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Scholarship, the National Instruments Scholarship, and many full/half-tuition BYU scholarships. Matthew graduated from BYU in April 2006 with a B.S. in Computer Science. Following graduation, Matthew went on to pursue his PhD at Cornell University studying Operations Research.

Lei Lei obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Telecommunication in China. She completed her Master’s degree at Brigham Young University in 2006. She had received the BYU departmental 2/3 tuition scholarship for two years and was awarded the Excellent Leadership & Service from Chinese Student & Scholar Association. She worked in IDeA Labs from Aug. 2004 to May. 2006. Her primary research interest is in Hidden Markov model realizations and approximations, Geographic Information System (GIS), and applying Hidden Markov models to solve practical ecological problems such as simulating post-fire successional dynamics, predicting vegetation composition from different Silvicultural pathways. During summer of 2006 she was an intern with the Natural Resource Consulting Group in the Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI). Contact: lei.lei@yale.edu

After graduation, she went on to pursue her PhD at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

Steve is one of the founding students of the IDeA labs, joining in the fall of 2003. His projects included customer loyalty program research and design for the BYU bookstore, pattern-based learning for natural language processing and robotic control, with forays into system identification and control theory. While at BYU Steve received two ORCA research grants and was twice awarded the Edwin S Hinckley Scholarship. He completed internships with Sandia National Laboratories and Amazon.com before graduating in 2005 with a BS in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics. Working with the people and projects of the IDeA Labs was the highlight of his BYU experience. After graduation, he went to work on the Demand Forecasting team at Amazon.com, helping produce daily point and distribution forecasts for 8 million products worldwide.

Alma Wilson completed a BS in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Auckland, where he held both a New Zealand University Junior Scholarship and a Ngarimu V.C. and 28th (Maori) Battalion Scholarship. He subsequently served an LDS mission, worked in industry and government, and started his own technical writing consultancy in Sydney. He then completed a PhD in physics at Brigham Young University.

He is interested in raising the earth’s carrying capacity, and otherwise leaving the world a better place, or at least a little more interesting one, for his wife and children. He delights in devising and exploiting improved representations, especially in unexpected contexts in engineering and pedagogy.

Emily Grover is from Tracy, California. She is an undergraduate student majoring in Psychology and minoring in Nutritional Science. She joined IDeA Labs in September of 2021 to explore more avenues of research. Her main research interests are those applied in fields of human behavior and nutritional disorders. Outside of academics, she enjoys running, hiking, cooking, and spending time learning Italian.

Becca Goldrup is an honors student majoring in computer science and minoring in sociology. She joined IDeA Labs in 2021 and is curious about research concerning connections across her two disciplines. She is interested in seeing how computer science can be applied to topics such as criminal justice, immigration reform, and gender inequality. Becca grew up overseas (Jordan, South Africa, China, England, and India) and enjoys biking, filmmaking, and embroidering.

Alex is a Masters student who has been with IDEA Labs since Fall of 2020. He comes from an undergraduate degree in Statistics from the University of Missouri and is looking to combine his knowledge of statistics with optimization, learning, and control processes. His research experience is in ecological population modeling while his research interests span the crossroads of economics, engineering systems, and data science. His hobbies include creating mobile applications, fishing, playing games with his nieces and nephews, and finding new restaurants with his wife.

Cristina Lange is from Los Gatos, California and is the youngest of four kids. She served a mission in Mexico City, Mexico. She joined the Storylab/Human Systems part of the IDeA Labs in spring 2019. She is studying applied math through the ACME program with a concentration in machine learning and will graduate in December 2020.

Kohler is finishing his undergraduate degree in Applied Mathematics with an emphasis in Artificial Intelligence and with Minors in Statistics and Computer Science. He began at BYU looking to advance his career as a software developer and was quickly intrigued by the theory of Computer Science which led to a further fascination with the Mathematics of A.I, Decision Making, Forecasting, and System/Network Dynamics.

Kohler joined IDeA labs mid-summer of 2019 and plans on pursuing a PhD program in Computer Science.

Before beginning his studies, Kohler served as a missionary for two years in Peru. He enjoys snowboarding with his wife, coding, parkour, and reading philosophy.

Candice joined IDeA Labs as a freshman as part of the original cohort and published a paper on biological network reconstruction in August 2009. As an undergraduate, she was the recipient of various scholarships including the New Century Scholarship from the state of Utah, a BYU tuition scholarship, the Allred Scholarship, and an ORCA research grant. She graduated with her bachelor’s in mathematics in the summer of 2010 and went to work for the Journal of Financial Services Research at the University of Maryland and later for the Center for International Policy Exchanges. For two years she volunteered as a crew leader at Habitat for Humanity and on an active search and rescue team. After a brief hiatus to marry the love of her life and bring two beautiful children into the world, she is returning to Brigham Young University to work toward her PhD in computer science.

In 2018 Candice was awarded a Graduate Mentoring Assistantship, which is funding a collaboration with Dr. Warnick to improve the educational experience for women in computer science. She was also the recipient of the 2018 BluePay scholarship. Her research interests include systems and synthetic biology, model predictive control, and network reconstruction. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, eating exotic foods, and learning about Russian history and culture.

Hannah is a bioinformatics major with an emphasis in computer science. Her research interests are synthetic biology, and network reconstruction for biochemical network reactions. Hannah is part of BYU’s Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society and has received several half-tuition scholarships. She is also a member of BYU’s Bioinformatics Research Group and participated in various research projects there.

Hannah’s favorite hobby is the violin. She especially loves playing with orchestras and chamber groups, and has been part of several, including UVU’s symphony orchestra and BYU’s string orchestra.

Kaela Nelson is from Norwell, Massachusetts. She will graduate with her Bachelors in Applied and Computational Mathematics with a Financial Markets emphasis in December 2018. Kaela joined Idea Labs in March 2016, and is interested in network reconstruction in Finance and Economics.

Jake is a double major in Applied and Computational Mathematics and Economics with minors in Asian Studies and Philosophy, and he joined IdeaLabs in the fall of 2015. What drew him to IdeaLabs was the lab’s intentional approach to understanding and connecting ideas from many different disciplines. Jake has a deep interest in understanding the dynamics of business systems and social interaction within cooperative settings, and his current research agenda is focused on financial economics and feedback systems in management theory, his undergraduate Honors Thesis particularly focusing on the mathematical modeling of leadership.

Jake loves innovation and solving problems, and he is passionate about business: he has cofounded or helped start five business startups, and he is currently working as the head of data science for a predictive analytics startup out of Provo, UT. He has a particular passion for social impact. One of the startups he helped is a consulting firm and system of business schools in developing countries focused on providing real business knowledge and skills to necessity entrepreneurs. He believes that the world of business strategy can benefit greatly from the theories of applied mathematics, which he saw in his most recent adventures in private equity as he applied the modeling skills learned in IdeaLabs to solving real-life business and valuation problems. He also served on the board of directors for a large nonprofit organization focused on bringing science to life for elementary and middle-school aged children. In this role, he helped the organization grow into 17 different states and 3 foreign countries, and he co-authored and led the publication of a book of the organization’s curriculum for use by home-schooled students. Jake was a 2014 Utah Young Humanitarian Award finalist and a U.S. Senate Youth Program Award recipient. He served an LDS mission in The Philippines and is fluent in Tagalog and Bikol, and he studied Mandarin Chinese for 3 years after returning home.

Jake is a double major in Applied and Computational Mathematics and Economics with minors in Asian Studies and Philosophy, and he joined IdeaLabs in the fall of 2015. What drew him to IdeaLabs was the lab’s intentional approach to understanding and connecting ideas from many different disciplines. Jake has a deep interest in understanding the dynamics of business systems and social interaction within cooperative settings, and his current research agenda is focused on financial economics and feedback systems in management theory, his undergraduate Honors Thesis particularly focusing on the mathematical modeling of leadership.

Jake loves innovation and solving problems, and he is passionate about business: he has cofounded or helped start five business startups, and he is currently working as the head of data science for a predictive analytics startup out of Provo, UT. He has a particular passion for social impact. One of the startups he helped is a consulting firm and system of business schools in developing countries focused on providing real business knowledge and skills to necessity entrepreneurs. He believes that the world of business strategy can benefit greatly from the theories of applied mathematics, which he saw in his most recent adventures in private equity as he applied the modeling skills learned in IdeaLabs to solving real-life business and valuation problems. He also served on the board of directors for a large nonprofit organization focused on bringing science to life for elementary and middle-school aged children. In this role, he helped the organization grow into 17 different states and 3 foreign countries, and he co-authored and led the publication of a book of the organization’s curriculum for use by home-schooled students. Jake was a 2014 Utah Young Humanitarian Award finalist and a U.S. Senate Youth Program Award recipient. He served an LDS mission in The Philippines and is fluent in Tagalog and Bikol, and he studied Mandarin Chinese for 3 years after returning home.

Tory Anderson conducts work in the Storylab/Human Systems component of the IDeA Labs. He has a passion for saying the phrase, “Computational Psycho-Narratology” and has studied narrative through literature, linguistics, psychology, artificial intelligence, and computer science. He has three children and also does work with the BYU Office of Digital Humanities.

Ryan is from St. George, Utah and joined IDeA Labs in the fall of 2013. Before starting graduate school, Ryan worked as a quality assurance auditor for the United States Air Force. Ryan graduated from BYU with a degree in mathematics in 2012. Some of Ryan’s academic honors and awards include BYU’s full and part-time academic scholarships, and a BYU Communications Talent Award. Ryan is interested in UAV control and population dynamics. Ryan also enjoys fishing, reading, singing, or beating his personal best Scrabble score.

Nicholai was born in New York, and is most recently from Park City, Utah. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Taiwan, speaking Mandarin Chinese. Nicholai joined IDeA Labs in January 2012 and is a senior majoring in Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science. He’s a fan of the open-source movement and enjoys studying computer-hacking tactics in his free time. Nicholai’s research interests include networks and computer security, especially intruder detection.

Gustavo is from Caracas, Venezuela. He joined IDeA Labs in May 2011 as a freshman, where he assisted Philip Pare with his undergraduate Honors Thesis. Here, Gustavo helped to extract and process data from the BYU Bookstore and assisted Philip in running regression on the data to analyze the demand function. He is currently pursuing a BS in Computer Engineering with a minor in Computer Science at BYU, where he has also been awarded a half-tuition scholarship. Gustavo’s interests include UAV technology, security systems, and application development.

Tanja grew up in Miami, Florida, but also spent many years living in Norway and Denmark. In 2005, she completed her Master’s degree in Computer Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She then served a Spanish speaking mission in Provo, Utah before beginning her PhD studies in Computer Science at BYU. Tanja’s research in IDeA Labs focused on multi-agent dynamical systems in market power analyses, for which she received a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship (link to news article). Nevertheless, Tanja left the program in 2010, after meeting her husband while visiting the University of Maryland as part of IDeA Labs’ visiting scholar program.

Courtney is a sophomore from Salt Lake City, Utah. She is majoring in Mathematics and Actuarial Science. She enjoys running, hiking, and swimming. She also loves cooking and reading. In 2007 she was named, “Most Outstanding Sophomore” by the Mathematics Department. She is researching inventory management using operations research. She is working with PhD. candidate Blake Durschi on the retail laboratory project with the BYU Bookstore. Upon graduation she plans to pursue graduate work in any one of the following fields: Mathematics, Operations Research, Economics, or Statistics. Graduated with a BS in Mathematics in April 2009.

Bryant grew up in Columbus, Ohio, just a stone’s throw away from the ‘Sho’e. As a child, he enjoyed crunching numbers while watching the Buckeyes beat up on some hapless opponent during football season. At BYU, Bryant received the Heritage Scholarship for his outstanding achievements during high school. He played two seasons with BYU’s lacrosse team, winning a National Championship in 2007. He joined IDeA Labs when the season ended, with plans to graduate in 2009 with a degree in mathematics. He is currently researching inventory control and options pricing, and hopes one day to be able to learn something that is not already known. Following the completion of his work, Bryant left IDeA Labs and joined IMPACT Program in May 2008, the year it was founded.

Ian Fillmore is from Tahlequah, Oklahoma. From July 2004 to July 2006 he served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Long Beach, California. He double-majored in Statistics and Economics. In his spare time, he enjoys playing the trumpet, playing tennis, and running. Ian is a member of the American Statistical Association and an officer in Mu Sigma Rho. His research interests include Education Policy and Finance. He joined IDeA Labs in Summer Term of 2007 and researched applications of dynamic control theory to monetary policy.

Tommy Leininger is from Ogden, Utah. He is majored in Actuarial Science, with a minor in Economics. He is a lifelong BYU football fan and loves to ski, play tennis, and eat good food. In the spring of 2007 he began his involvement with research in the mind-boggling world of Bayesian statistics and MCMC estimation methods. He joined the IDeA Labs team during the fall of 2007.

Luther is an artistic lover of algorithms with no particular care what problem the algorithm is designed to solve. He came to BYU as a Junior in 2003 with no prior background in computers or algorithms and immediately began algorithmic research, working over the next four years on algorithms dealing with higher-dimensional space visualization, formal verification, real-time graphics, algorithmic reactive navigation, and a variety of side projects. In 2007, with his Master’s thesis on simulation and visualization techniques for environments with multidimensional time nearly complete, he joined IDeA Labs to enjoy the algorithmic implications of existing IDeA labs work and developing additional ideas, particularly in the verification of dynamic controllers and efficient approximation of related NP-hard problems.

Hayley Mattson is from Roy, Utah. She majored in Statistical Science and minored in Italian. She studied in Italy from July 2005 to February 2006 where, in addition to her academic pursuits, she had the opportunity to work with the US Olympic Committee. Hayley has received various academic scholarships, including a full-tuition scholarship and the Robert C. Byrd scholarship. She served as the Treasurer for BYU’s chapter of Mu Sigma Rho, a statistics honor society. Upon graduation, Hayley left to obtain a doctorate in Biostatistics.