Hello! Welcome to my website! For those unfamiliar with the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, ‘Deep Thought’ is the massive planetary computer which posed the famous ultimate answer of 42 to the greatest unknown question.

Who I am

My name is Dhruv Pai and I am a BS/MS student at Stanford University. I am currently in my second year and I am pursuing a degree in coputer science with either a double major or minor in mathematics. My primary academic emphasis is on AI/ML and applied mathematics, although I broadly enjoy all sorts of engineering.

What I am

I am an avid AI/ML researcher at the Koyejo Lab at Stanford under the direction of PhD student Rylan Schaeffer, and working closely with Andres Carranza. I also do independent researchon a variety of projects answering fundamental questons in quesitons spanning from physical priors learned by generative models to multiview self-supervised learning schemes to much, much more. My broad interest areas interpretability, learning dynamics, robustness, infromation theory, neuroscience-inspired deep learning, and AI safety work. I’ve takken most of the key graduate Stanford CS courses related to ML over the past year, in particular NLP, CV, RL, generative models, deep learning, and more.

I am also interested in a wide variety of other fields. Currently, I am involved in the study of PDEs and applications in fluid and statistical mechanics. I have taken a myriad of formal math courses, mostly analysis-focused, as well as biology classes, such as tissue engineering and microbiology.

Aside from academics, I enjoy foraging and citizen science. I’m an avid mycologist; I am thoroughly fascinated by this beautifully misunderstood kingdom of life. I’m entranced by the enchanting symmetry of a fruiting fungal body or a corupuscular arrangement of mold on rotting bread. Ask me anything about entomology or mycology, and I would love to discuss, especiall if you find any cool specimens :bug: :mushroom:.

Why I am

I believe that humanity as it stands is near a turning point in the cours eof our civilizaiton. Technology will determine whether that turning point turns out in our favor or not. You could say I am a techno-evangelist, in that I believe technology has the power to bring about a utopia, but you could equally say that I am a techno-decrier. In light of this view, I hedge my bets on AI/ML technology playing an important role in determinign this outcome and so I hope to contribute in some small way through my work.

This philosophy draws heavily on some threads from Effective Altruism and the Three Body Problem, but many of these thoughts find their conception much before i had the chance to encounter these concepts in the literature.

Where I am

I am originally from the suburbs of Maryland, right outside of Washington DC. Right now, I am housed at Stanford University.

When I am

This website is recent as of October, 2023. In this time, I am in the fall quarter of my sophomore year.

This website is very much a work in progress, and has been put on the back-burner as my academic projects for the school year ramp up. And thanks academicpages for making this wbesite possible :joy:.