MSc in Computing Science
I am a Research Assistant at the University of Alberta working with Martha White. I have completed my MSc degree in Computing Science under the supervision of Martha White in the RLAI Lab. Prior to that, I obtained a BSc from the National Polytechnic University of Armenia (NPUA) in Information Technologies (IT).
My current research is focused on online reinforcement learning, particularly on designing adaptable agents that can learn tasks robustly, even as their surroundings change. In my MSc thesis, I explored how adjusting various hyperparameters could enhance this adaptability.
Lately, I’ve become increasingly interested in the concept of agents that are aware of their limitations - whether computational or otherwise - and capable of recognizing and adapting to changes they’ve made in their surroundings. I believe this self-awareness could help with more efficient learning and the emergence of agency. Ultimately, my goal is to develop methods compelling enough to attract interest from psychologists to study agent behaviors.
Contact: hakhverd [at] ualberta [dot] ca
- Continual Reinforcement Learning
- Single-lifetime agents
- Robust Learning
- Resource-constrained Learning
MSc in Computing Science
University of Alberta
BSc in Information Technologies
National Polytechnic University of Armenia
Experience
Research Assistant
University of Alberta - RLAI LabResponsibilities include:
- Finishing up my thesis work for journal submission.
- Developing a suite of environments for process control.
- Working on developing environments suitable for Continual learning.
- Understanding and evaluating RL agents in curated animal learning experiments.
Machine Learning Engineer
Magical LabsResponsibilities include:
- Developed models and pipelines for autonomous vehicle control.
- Worked on compressing large neural networks with RL agents for mobile integration.
Machine Learning Engineer
Perpetuum MotorsResponsibilities include:
- Conducted research on developing an end-to-end autonomous driving pipeline for simulated games.
Software Engineer
ForgeFictionResponsibilities include:
- Developed and designed API requests and database architectures.
- Optimized the application for maximum speed and scalability.
Education
MSc in Computing Science
University of AlbertaGPA: 3.8/4.0
My Master’s thesis explores online hyperparameter tuning in reinforcement learning, where an agent adapts its hyperparameters during interactions rather than relying on a pre-tuning phase.
BSc in Information Technologies
National Polytechnic University of ArmeniaGPA: 3.92/4.0