Mykel Kochenderfer

Mykel Kochenderfer is Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. Prior to joining the faculty, he was at MIT Lincoln Laboratory where he worked on airspace modeling and aircraft collision avoidance, with his early work leading to the establishment of the ACAS X program. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh and B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science from Stanford University. Prof. Kochenderfer is the director of the Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory (SISL), conducting research on advanced algorithms and analytical methods for the design of robust decision making systems. Of particular interest are systems for air traffic control, unmanned aircraft, and other aerospace applications where decisions must be made in uncertain, dynamic environments while maintaining safety and efficiency. Research at SISL focuses on efficient computational methods for deriving optimal decision strategies from high-dimensional, probabilistic problem representations. He is the author of "Decision Making under Uncertainty: Theory and Application" and "Algorithms for Optimization", both from MIT Press. He is a third generation pilot.

Academic Appointments

• Associate Professor, Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Associate Professor (By courtesy), Computer Science
• Member, Bio-X
• Faculty Affiliate, Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)
• Member, Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance
• Member, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

Administrative Appointments

• Co-Director, Center for AI Safety (2018 - Present)
• Director, SAIL-Toyota Center for AI Research (2018 - Present)

Program Affiliations

• Symbolic Systems Program

Professional Education

• Ph.D., University of Edinburgh, Informatics (2006)
• M.S., Stanford University, Computer Science (2003)
• B.S., Stanford University, Computer Science (2003)