Brendan Tracey

Brendan Tracey works in the overlaps between statistics, machine learning, and engineering analysis in design. He is particularly interested in incorporating non-traditional ideas to more effectively use our simulation tools. Especially in high performance systems, it is difficult to measure the quality of the design, requiring a resource-intensive computer simulation or expensive physical experiment. His research addresses this problem by using data-driven techniques to inform and improve physical models, and by harnessing statistical techniques to learn when low-fidelity models are sufficient and when more accurate high-fidelity models are necessary for engineering design. Outside of these main interests, Brendan is also interested in game theory, graph theory and social choice design.

Brendan received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester and received his M.S. and Ph. D. from Stanford University in the department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is currently a postdoc at the Santa Fe Institute and the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.