Bio

Mykel Kochenderfer is Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. Prior to joining the faculty, he was at MIT Lincoln Laboratory where he worked on airspace modeling and aircraft collision avoidance, with his early work leading to the establishment of the ACAS X program. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh and B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science from Stanford University. Prof. Kochenderfer is the director of the Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory (SISL), conducting research on advanced algorithms and analytical methods for the design of robust decision making systems. Of particular interest are systems for air traffic control, unmanned aircraft, and other aerospace applications where decisions must be made in uncertain, dynamic environments while maintaining safety and efficiency. Research at SISL focuses on efficient computational methods for deriving optimal decision strategies from high-dimensional, probabilistic problem representations. He is the author of "Decision Making under Uncertainty: Theory and Application" from MIT Press. He is a third generation pilot.

Academic Appointments

  • Assistant Professor, Aeronautics and Astronautics
  • Assistant Professor (By courtesy), Computer Science

Professional Education

  • Ph.D., University of Edinburgh, Informatics (2006)
  • M.S., Stanford University, Computer Science (2003)
  • B.S., Stanford University, Computer Science (2003)

Contact

Links

Projects

  • Building Trust in Autonomy: Research Experiences in Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh (6/15/2016 - 7/13/2016)

    Major advances in both hardware and software have accelerated the development of autonomous systems that have the potential to bring significant benefits to society. Google, Tesla, and a host of other companies are building autonomous vehicles that can improve safety and provide flexible mobility options for those who cannot drive themselves. On the aviation side, the past few years have seen the proliferation of unmanned aircraft that have the potential to deliver medicine and monitor agricultural crops autonomously. In the financial domain, a significant portion of stock trades are performed using automated trading algorithms at a frequency not possible by human traders. How do we build these systems that drive our cars, fly our planes, and invest our money? How do we develop trust in these systems? What is the societal impact on increased levels of autonomy? This Bing Overseas Studies Seminar exposes students to the fundamental concepts of autonomy and immerses the students in a collection of cutting-edge research laboratories at the University of Edinburgh, a major leader in computer science, artificial intelligence, and robotics. Edinburgh was also ground-zero of the industrial revolution with the invention of the steam engine by James Watt. The greater levels of automation enabled by this technology influenced nearly every aspect of daily life and had important consequences such as the replacement of human laborers with machines. As we embark in an era where human decision making is being replaced by the (potentially superior) judgment of computer algorithms, it is important to understand the broader impacts of this technology.

    Instruction will come from lectures, guest lectures, student presentations, and individual research. Prior to Spring Quarter 2016, students will be matched to one of the research institutes within the School of Informatics, including: the Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation; the Institute for Computing Systems Architecture; the Institute for Language, Cognition, and Computation; the Institute of Perception, Action, and Behaviour; the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science; and the Center for Intelligent Systems and their Applications. During Spring Quarter at Stanford, the students will take a 1 unit course with Prof. Kochenderfer to prepare them for the research they will be undertaking at the University of Edinburgh.

    The students will produce research papers and present their work to the group as well as to their respective laboratories. Student evaluation will be based on their paper and presentation as well as two written midterms.

    Location

    Edinburgh, Scotland

2015-16 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • Target Surveillance in Adversarial Environments using POMDPs AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence Egorov, M., Kochenderfer, M. J., Uudmae, J. J. 2016
  • Exploiting Anonymity in Approximate Linear Programming: Scaling to Large Multiagent MDPs AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence Robbel, P., Oliehoek, F. A., Kochenderfer, M. J. 2016
  • Probabilistic Airport Acceptance Rate Prediction AIAA Modeling and Simulation Conference Cox, J., Kochenderfer, M. J. 2016

    View details for DOI 10.2514/6.2016-0165

  • Vertical State Estimation for Aircraft Collision Avoidance with Quantized Measurements Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics Asmar, D. M., Kochenderfer, M. J., Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P. 2013; 35 (6): 1797-1802
  • Collision Avoidance System Optimization for Closely Spaced Parallel Operations through Surrogate Modeling AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference Smith, K., Kochenderfer, M. J., Olson, W., Vela, A. 2013
  • Decentralized Control of Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes IEEE Conference on Decision and Control Amato, C., Chowdhary, G., Geramifard, A., Ure, N. K., Kochenderfer, M. J. 2013
  • Fielding a Sense and Avoid Capability for Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Policy, Standards, Technology, and Safety Modeling Air Traffic Control Quarterly Cole, R., Kochenderfer, M. J., Weibel, R., Edwards, M., Griffith, J. D. 2013; 21 (1): 5-27
  • Traffic Alert Optimization for Airborne Collision Avoidance Systems AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference Puntin, B., Kochenderfer, M. J. 2013
  • Compression of Optimal Value Functions for Markov Decision Processes Data Compression Conference Kochenderfer, M. J., Monath, N. 2013
  • Optimizing the Next Generation Collision Avoidance System for Safe, Suitable, and Acceptable Operational Performance Air Traffic Management Research and Development Seminar Holland, J. E., Kochenderfer, M. J., Olson, W. A. 2013
  • Decomposition Methods for Optimized Collision Avoidance with Multiple Threats Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P., Kochenderfer, M. J. 2012; 35 (2): 398-405
  • Predicting the Behavior of Interacting Humans by Fusing Data from Multiple Sources Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence Schlicht, E. J., Lee, R., Wolpert, D. H., Kochenderfer, M. J., Tracey, B. 2012
  • Next Generation Airborne Collision Avoidance System Lincoln Laboratory Journal Kochenderfer, M. J., Holland, J. E., Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P. 2012; 19 (1): 17-33
  • Hazard Alerting Based on Probabilistic Models Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P., Kochenderfer, M. J. 2012; 35 (2): 442-450
  • Collision Avoidance for General Aviation IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine Billingsley, T. B., Kochenderfer, M. J., Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P. 2012; 27 (7): 4-12
  • A New Approach for Designing Safer Collision Avoidance Systems Air Traffic Control Quarterly Kochenderfer, M. J., Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P., Weibel, R. E. 2012; 20 (1): 27-45
  • Partially-Controlled Markov Decision Processes for Collision Avoidance Systems International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence Kochenderfer, M. J., Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P. 2011
  • Position Validation Strategies using Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes IEEE/AIAA Digital Avionics Systems Conference Kochenderfer, M. J., Shih, K. J., Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P., Rose, C. E., Elder, T. R. 2011
  • Unmanned Aircraft Collision Avoidance using Continuous-State POMDPs Robotics: Science and Systems Bai, H., Hsu, D., Kochenderfer, M. J., Lee, W. S. 2011
  • Analysis of Open-loop and Closed-loop Planning for Aircraft Collision Avoidance IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P., Kochenderfer, M. J. 2011
  • Accounting for State Uncertainty in Collision Avoidance Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P., Kochenderfer, M. J. 2011; 34 (4): 951-960

    View details for DOI 10.2514/1.53172

  • Collision Avoidance System Optimization with Probabilistic Pilot Response Models American Control Conference Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P., Kochenderfer, M. J. 2011
  • Aircraft Collision Avoidance using Monte Carlo Real-Time Belief Space Search Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems Wolf, T. B., Kochenderfer, M. J. 2011; 64 (2): 277-298
  • Efficiently Estimating Ambient Near Mid-Air Collision Risk for Unmanned Aircraft AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference Maki, E., Weinert, A., Kochenderfer, M. J. 2010
  • On Estimating Mid-Air Collision Risk AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference Kochenderfer, M. J., Griffith, J. D., Olszta, J. E. 2010
  • A Decision-Theoretic Approach to Developing Robust Collision Avoidance Logic IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems Kochenderfer, M. J., Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P. 2010
  • Collision Avoidance for Unmanned Aircraft using Markov Decision Processes AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference Temizer, S., Kochenderfer, M. J., Kaelbling, L. P., Lozano-Perez, T. 2010
  • Improved Monte Carlo Sampling for Conflict Probability Estimation AIAA Non-Deterministic Approaches Conference Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P., Kochenderfer, M. J., Williams, R. E. 2010
  • Airspace Encounter Models for Estimating Collision Risk Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics Kochenderfer, M. J., Edwards, M., Espindle, L. P., Kuchar, J. K., Griffith, J. D. 2010; 33 (2): 487-499

    View details for DOI 10.2514/1.44867

  • Robustness of Optimized Collision Avoidance Logic to Modeling Errors IEEE/AIAA Digital Avionics Systems Conference Kochenderfer, M. J., Chryssanthacopoulos, J. P., Radecki, P. 2010
  • Classification of Primary Radar Tracks using Gaussian Mixture Models IET Radar, Sonar and Navigation Espindle, L. P., Kochenderfer, M. J. 2009; 3 (6): 559-568

    View details for DOI 10.1049/iet-rsn.2008.0182

  • A Comprehensive Aircraft Encounter Model of the National Airspace System Lincoln Laboratory Journal Kochenderfer, M. J., Espindle, L. P., Kuchar, J. K., Griffith, J. D. 2008; 17 (2): 41-53
  • Electro-Optical System Analysis for Sense and Avoid AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference Griffith, J. D., Kochenderfer, M. J., Kuchar, J. K. 2008
  • Hazard Alerting using Line-of-Sight Rate AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference Kochenderfer, M. J., Griffith, J. D., Kuchar, J. K. 2008
  • Adaptive Modeling and Planning for Reactive Agents AAAI National Conference on Artificial Intelligence Kochenderfer, M. J. 2005
  • Common Sense Data Acquisition for Indoor Mobile Robots AAAI National Conference on Artificial Intelligence Gupta, R., Kochenderfer, M. J. 2004
  • Evolving Hierarchical and Recursive Teleo-Reactive Programs through Genetic Programming European Conference on Genetic Programming Kochenderfer, M. J. Springer. 2003