People · Overview

People

ADEPT opened at BYU Computer Science in August 2026.

People · Principal investigator

Principal Investigator

People · Current students

Current Students

Tianrun Yu

Tianrun Yu

Tianrun Yu is a PhD student in Computer Science at BYU. His research focuses on RL, LLMs, robotics, and world models.

  • PhD
  • RL
  • LLMs
  • Robotics
Website Email
Kaixiang Zhao

Kaixiang Zhao

PhD student co-advised with Amanda Hughes: LLM reasoning, RL, and VLMs. M.S. from Notre Dame and B.Eng. from Beijing Jiaotong University.

  • PhD
  • RL
  • LLMs
  • VLMs
Website Scholar LinkedIn
Jeremy Summers

Jeremy Summers

First-year Master's student working on RL. B.S. in CS with an ML emphasis, plus minors in mathematics and statistics.

  • Master's
  • RL
LinkedIn Email
Preston Hancock

Preston Hancock

Machine Learning major with a research focus on training dynamics, computer vision, and reinforcement learning.

  • Undergraduate
  • Offline RL
GitHub LinkedIn Email
Ray Shaw

Ray Shaw

Junior studying Statistics with an emphasis in Data Science. My research interests include RL with a focus on LLM plasticity and empowerment.

  • Undergraduate
  • LLMs
  • RL
LinkedIn Email
Ben Calvert

Ben Calvert

Junior studying ACME with a concentration in CS, interested in evals and benchmarking; focusing on post-training, RL, and the data bottle-neck.

  • Undergraduate
  • LLMs
  • RL
GitHub LinkedIn Email
Danny Graviet

Danny Graviet

Junior interested in classical RL, efficient compute, and the systems that make large-scale experimentation possible.

  • Undergraduate
  • RL
  • Delayed Feedback
Website Twitter Email
Zihang Yao

Zihang Yao

Interested in embodied AI and RL for robotics, with a focus on reliable decision-making and failure-aware robot learning.

  • Undergraduate
  • RL
  • Robotics
  • UQ
Email
Jack Rich

Jack Rich

Junior studying Applied Math with a Machine Learning emphasis.

  • Undergraduate
  • RL
  • Continual Learning
LinkedIn Email

People · Alumni

Alumni

Where people went after ADEPT.

  • Matt Landers PhD

    University of Virginia

    2023–2026

    Now AI Research @ Plastic Labs

People · Collaborators

Collaborators

People outside ADEPT and/or BYU we work with regularly.