DARPA TALONS Program
Principal Investigator on $1.75M SBIR Phase I & II research program
2020–2023AI Agents for Mission-Critical Systems
I help enterprise and government leaders deploy AI agent systems that work — 15+ years building AI agents from academic research to production systems.
Former DARPA SBIR Principal Investigator • Former NRC Research Fellow (Naval Research Laboratory) • PhD in Computer Science
AI is moving fast. Most organizations are stuck.
Most teams are overwhelmed by AI hype, unsure which technologies actually fit their needs, and lack the deep technical expertise to evaluate vendors, build robust systems, or avoid costly mistakes. I bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and production deployment.
How I Help
Strategic Advisory
For leaders who need a trusted expert on call. Monthly strategy sessions, proposal and vendor reviews, architecture feedback. Ideal for organizations exploring AI or evaluating major decisions.
Technical Partnership
Hands-on collaboration for active projects. Weekly working sessions, prompt engineering, RAG optimization, system design. I work alongside your team to accelerate progress.
Fractional AI Lead
For organizations that need senior AI leadership without a full-time hire. I take ownership of AI initiatives, coach your team, and drive execution.
Proposal & Document Review
Expert review of DARPA, SBIR, crypto/Web3, or technical proposals. I've helped teams win over $10M in competitive research funding and know what reviewers look for.
Engagements are tailored to your needs. Let's talk.
About
I've been building AI agents since 2011 — before "agents" became a buzzword. My PhD research at Lehigh University focused on goal-driven autonomy and self-monitoring AI systems. I spent two years as a National Research Council Fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory, where I investigated explainable AI and autonomous systems for defense applications.
I've led DARPA-funded research programs (SBIR Phase I & II, totaling $1.75M as Principal Investigator), published 30+ peer-reviewed papers on AI planning, cognitive architectures, and neural-symbolic systems, and solved hard problems in production at startups using tool-based LLM agents with real users.
I'm here to help you get the next win you need with AI — whether that's an inspiring demo to secure funding or applying the latest research to solve production challenges.
Selected Work
Self-Directed Learning of Action Models using Exploratory Planning
Advances in Cognitive Systems
2021dcss-ai-wrapper
Open source API for Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup — used in ICAPS tutorials for AI research
2021DVMDash
Open source monitoring tool for decentralized systems — funded by OpenSats
2024AI Magazine Special Issue: Anticipatory Thinking
Co-edited special issue and authored introductory article on the anticipatory paradigm
2023PhD Dissertation: Self Monitoring Goal Driven Autonomy Agents
Lehigh University — Advisor: Héctor Muñoz-Avila
2017Let's Talk
Interested in working together? Tell me a bit about your situation and I'll follow up within 48 hours.
Prefer to schedule directly? Book a time on my calendar