Aaron Gokaslan
Senior Research Scientist at MBZUAI (Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence)
New York, New York, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolAaron Gokaslan is a Senior Research Scientist specializing in generative models, robotics, and deep learning, with 12 years of engineering and research experience across academia and industry. He completed a PhD in Computer Science at Cornell after AI residencies and internships at Facebook AI, Databricks/Mosaic, and MosaicML, and now leads open-source foundation-model work at MBZUAI. Aaron combines low-level systems and performance expertise—evident from contributions that optimized PyTorch and C++ projects like pybind11 and assimp—with applied ML work in embodied AI (Habitat) and vision-based tracking (WebGazer). He frequently improves code quality and cross-platform tooling, from Python 2→3 migrations and DevOps enhancements to clang-tidy performance fixes and Flake8 linting. Based in New York, he bridges reproducible research and production-ready engineering, often surfacing subtle performance wins such as eliminating unnecessary copies and improving GPU memory use. Beyond publications, his track record shows a knack for tightening the interface between high-performance C++ and Python ML stacks to accelerate research deployment.
12 years of coding experience
5 years of employment as a software developer
Gilman SchoolMaster's degree Computer Science, Master's degree Computer Science at Brown UniversityDoctor of Philosophy - PhD Computer Science, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD Computer Science at Cornell University
English, Spanish
Github Skills (77)
opencv10
python10
simulator10
javas10
automation10
deep-learning10
automation-testing10
linting10
cpp10
clang-tidy10
kalman-filter10
computer-algebra-system10
regular-expression10
performance-optimization10
neural-network10
Programming languages (18)
Github contributions (5)
lkuza2/java-speech-api
Jul 2013 - May 2019
The J.A.R.V.I.S. Speech API is designed to be simple and efficient, using the speech engines created by Google to provide functionality for parts of the API. Essentially, it is an API written in Java, including a recognizer, synthesizer, and a microphone capture utility. The project uses Google services for the synthesizer and recognizer. While this requires an Internet connection, it provides a complete, modern, and fully functional speech API in Java.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:3 releases, 102 commits, 11 PRs in 5 years 10 months
Contributions summary:Aaron primarily contributed to the development and improvement of a Java-based speech API. Their work focused on enhancing the Synthesiser class, adding methods to handle strings of varying lengths, enabling multiple language support, and optimizing performance. They also refactored the Recognizer class and added methods for volume detection and frequency calculation within the MicrophoneAnalyzer class. These changes indicate a focus on improving the API's functionality, accuracy, and overall usability.
synthesizerrecognizerspeech-recognitionconnectiongoogle-services
facebookresearch/habitat-sim
Feb 2020 - Dec 2022
A flexible, high-performance 3D simulator for Embodied AI research.
Role in this project:Back-end Developer & Robotics Engineer
Back-end Developer & Robotics EngineerContributions:1169 reviews, 263 commits, 335 PRs in 2 years 11 months
Contributions summary:Aaron primarily contributed to the Habitat-Sim repository by fixing code style issues and whitespace errors, specifically within the `setup.py` file, which is important for build and installation. They also implemented and extended bindings for OBB (Oriented Bounding Box) and performed miscellaneous fixes related to the simulator. Their work demonstrates a focus on low-level code implementation and contributions to areas of the project dealing with geometrical representations.
roboticsembodied-aicomputer-visionsimulation3d-simulator
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