Dr. Travis Mandel is an assistant professor in the department of computer science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. He was hired in 2017 to help lead the development of the 'Ike Wai data science program at UH Hilo, including both teaching and research. In 2011, he obtained his Bachelors degree in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University. Following that, he earned his Masters (in 2013) and Ph.D. (in 2017) from the University of Washington, advised by Zoran Popović and Emma Brunskill (Stanford University).
His research interests lie in the realm of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Specifically, he is interested in how we can use data to automatically improve human-focused systems. Throughout his research he has developed new reinforcement learning systems that allow us to automatically optimize the design of educational games, and has deployed these systems in the wild to thousands of students.
Visit Travis' Personal Website