This is the personal website of Brydon Eastman. I am currently a Research Scientist at OpenAI. Previously I received my Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo (May, 2022) in the Math Medicine Lab under the supervision of Mohammad Kohandel. Previously I obtained an M.Sc. from McMaster University under the supervision of Gail Wolkowicz and a B.Sc. (Hons) in Math and Computer Science from Redeemer University with my thesis supervised by Kevin Vander Meulen. I am grateful to have received multiple awards for both my teaching and my research.
Currently, my research interests invoke my Computer Science background more than my Applied Math background -- though I find the parallels uncanny. I am concerned with research around Artificial General Intelligence including, broadly, issues in safety, alignment, and how self-improving AI relates to these goals. I feel deeply inspired and humbled by the power of these large networks and I feel an incredible responsibility to, in whatever little way I can, act as a midwife in the advent of this new age of computing.
During graduate school my research interests skewed towards computational biology and general mathematical modelling of biological processes, systems, and phenomena. In particular, my Ph.D. Thesis was interested in applying machine learning/artificial intelligence techniques in tandem with differential equations and stochastic models to answer questions of cancer stem cell evolution and treatment response in the study of human cancers. I find biological systems to be fascinating in their complexity and hope to elucidate their behaviour by using stochastic machine learning techniques coupled with traditional models. After all, nature has no compunction to regulate towards easy description even if it does so in aggregate.
Here you will find useful information about me, my research interests, teaching and tutorial resources, and updates of what I'm up to. Please contact me if you have any questions!