- Location: Boston, MA 02115
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikbearbrown
- GitHub: https://github.com/nikbearbrown
EDUCATION
- In-progress:
- Part-time MS in Finance/MBA, Northeastern University, Boston (Expected December 2025, GPA: 3.7)
- Graduated:
- MS in Information Design and Visualization, Northeastern University (GPA: 3.7)
- PhD in Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles (GPA: 3.7)
- MS in Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles (GPA: 3.7)
- BA in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz
EXPERIENCE
- Northeastern University - College of Engineering (2022-Present): Associate Teaching Professor, teaching AI and machine learning courses.
- AI for Education Project, Northeastern University (2023-Present): Project Lead, integrating AI into educational practices.
- Institute for Experiential AI, Northeastern University (2022-Present): Affiliated Faculty, developing workshops and fostering business collaborations.
- Northeastern University - College of Engineering (2017-2022): Assistant Teaching Professor, teaching AI and machine learning courses.
- Northeastern University AI Skunkworks (2019-Present): Founding Partner and Faculty Mentor.
- Kinesso (Sep 2019 – 2022): Collaborator, built reinforcement learning based ad buy optimizer.
- Squark (Mar 2019 – Present): Collaborator, developed the original AutoML platform.
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (Jun 2019 –Sep 2020): Collaborator, published research.
- Harvard Medical School (Jul 2019 – Oct 2019 & Jul 2017 – Jan 2018): Course Specialist & Part-Time Post Doc in Deep Learning.
- Northeastern University - College of Computer Science (2013-2017): Lecturer in C++, Game Programming, and Algorithms.
- University of California, Los Angeles & Santa Monica College (2005-2013): Lecturer and Teaching Assistant in Programming with C++.
- The Art Institute, Hollywood & LA Film School (2010-2013): Lecturer in Game Programming.
OBJECTIVE
With a rich background in computational biology, AI, visualization, and game development, I aim to bridge academic research with practical applications in AI and education. My work at Northeastern and collaborations with prestigious institutions highlight my commitment to transforming educational methodologies through AI.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
I developed and revamped several courses at Northeastern University, including:
- CSYE 7270: Building Virtual Environments
- CSYE 7370: Deep Reinforcement Learning Game Engineering
- INFO 7375: ST: AI Engineering Apps
- CSYE 7374: Special Topics: Computational Skepticism
- INFO 6205: Coursera INFO 6205: Program Structure Algorithms
Northeastern Coursera Courses
- INFO 6205: Coursera INFO 6205: Program Structure Algorithms
Northeastern Courses
- CS 3540: Game Programming
- CS 4300: Computer Graphics
- CS 4800: Algorithms and Data
- CS 4850/5850: Building Game Engines
- CSYE 7245: Big Data Systems and Intelligence Analytics
- CSYE 7270: Building Virtual Environments
- CSYE 7370: Deep Reinforcement Learning in Game Engineering
- CSYE 7374: Special Topics in Computer Systems Engineering
- DAMG 6210: Data Management and Database Design
- DA 5030: Introduction to Data Mining/Machine Learning
- DS 6020: Collect/Store/Retrieve Data
- DS 6030: Introduction to Data Mining/Machine Learning
- DSCS 6030: Introduction to Data Mining/Machine Learning
- ENGR 5963: Data Centric AI and Visualization
- ENGR 5963: Machine Learning Engineering for Production (MLOps)
- INFO 6105: Data Science Engineering Methods
- INFO 6205: Program Structure Algorithms
- INFO 6210: Data Management and Database Design
- INFO 7375: Special Topics in Artificial Intelligence Engineering - Computational Skepticism
- INFO 7375: Special Topics in Artificial Intelligence Engineering - Prompt Engineering for Generative AI
- INFO 7390: Advances in Data Science/Architecture
UCLA Courses
- CS 31 Programming in C++
Santa Monica College Courses
- CS 52 Programming in C++
Arts Institutes Courses
- Programming in C++
- Game Programming
LA Film School Courses
- Game Programming
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
- RISE Award 2022, COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES
- Fostering Engineering Innovation in Education Award, Northeastern University (2021-22)
- Red Hat Academy Director's Award for 2020
PUBLICATIONS
-
Mapping the Typographic Latent Space of Digits
A. A. Issak, S. Kakkar, S. Goetz, N. B. Brown, C. Harteveld
The Eleventh International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), Kigali, Rwanda, May 2023 -
DC-Art-GAN: Stable Procedural Content Generation using DC-GANs for Digital Art
Rohit Gandikota, Nik Bear Brown (2022)
arXiv:2209.02847 -
Deep learning and alignment of spatially resolved single-cell transcriptomes with Tangram
Raghav Avasthi, Ziqing Lu, Nik Bear Brown
Nature Methods 18, 1352–1362 (2021)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-021-01264-7 -
Typography-MNIST (TMNIST): an MNIST-Style Image Dataset to Categorize Glyphs and Font-Styles
Nimish Magre, Nicholas Brown (2021)
arXiv:2202.08112 -
Adjusting for Bias with Procedural Data
Shesh Narayan Gupta, Nik Bear Brown (2022)
53rd annual international conference of the International Simulation and Gaming Association (ISAGA) -
Pro-DDPM: Progressive Growing of Variable Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models for Faster Convergence
Paper Accepted to The 33rd British Machine Vision Conference, 21st - 24th November 2022, London, UK
https://bmvc2022.org/
AI for Education Project (AI4ED) Research
Drafts of papers in progress can be found at https://github.com/nikbearbrown/AI4ED/tree/main/Papers.
-
Enhancing Trust in LLMs: Algorithms for Comparing and Interpreting LLMs
Megha Patel, Himanshi Motwani, Nik Bear Brown
Draft (2024) -
Evaluating Tools for AI in Education: A Structured Framework
Dev Shah, Yash Pankhania, Himanshi Motwani, Megha Patel, Nik Bear Brown
Draft (2024) -
The AI4ED Framework for Building Educational AI Tools
Megha Patel, Himanshi Motwani, Nik Bear Brown
Draft (2024)
AI FOR EDUCATION PROJECT (AI4ED)
In my capacity as Project Lead for the AI for Education Project at Northeastern University, I have been at the forefront of integrating AI into educational practices, as detailed in the AI for Education project (AI4ED) GitHub. This initiative, part of the Provost's Office AI for Education (AI4ED), underscores my commitment to enhancing educational methodologies through adaptive, interactive, and personalized learning experiences.
PROFESSIONAL GOALS
My goals center on advancing AI in education through developing open-source tools, pioneering innovative educational methods, and promoting ethical AI development and use, aiming to transform education and make learning more personalized and accessible.
This executive summary encapsulates Nicholas Brown's academic credentials, teaching history, research contributions, and professional aspirations within the realms of AI and education.