About me

Hi, I’m Ben. I’m a first-year PhD student at Brown in Computer Science advised by George Konidaris. I’m grateful to be supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

I did my undergrad at Brown as well and graduated in 2022 with an ScB in Computers and Minds.

Research Philosophy

My research focus stems from a single hypothesis: language is central to intelligence and the way to solve language understanding is to ground it. I think the best way to do this is to ground language to structured decision-processes, like the ones used in Reinforcement Learning and Planning.

I believe in taking a principled approach to solving this problem that involves incorporating ideas from Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Philosophy. I expound my philosophy in my proposal for an Independent Concentration in Computers and Minds.

Personal Interests

I enjoy reading, watching movies, bouldering, playing and listening to music (I’m a bit of an audiophile), playing pool, and solving Rubik’s Cubes (my personal best for a 3 by 3 is 9.58s). I’m also a frequent reader of LessWrong (here’s my profile if you’re curious), an avid listener of the Making Sense podcast, and I do mindfulness meditation.