Summary
My name is Craig Fouts, and I am an enthusiastic
scientist/engineer interested in building mathematical
descriptions of living systems in the context of
biomedical data. As a doctoral student in the Biological Control Systems Lab
at Imperial College London, I develop computational
frameworks that characterize minimal design principles
and structural motifs found in stable host-microbiome
ecosystems. Previously, I worked in the New York Genome
Center's Technology Innovation Lab,
where I helped create statistical models and machine
learning tools used to study genomic morphology in
spatial transcriptomics data. Before that, I received my
master's in applied mathematics from Columbia University
after studying computer science and theoretical
mathematics at The Ohio State University. Outside of
research, I enjoy inline skating, playing the violin,
and building cool stuff.
Projects
The source code for neural particle automata, a
generalization of neural cellular automata to point
clouds using graph convolutional networks. The model is
trained to parameterize a nonlinear recurrence relation
that, given some initial "seed" configuration, converges
to a target configuration using local message
propagation.
A compilation of my experiments with self-organizing
systems and emergent behavior. Current methods include a
Brownian motion algorithm, a Vicsek active matter model,
and a branching annihilating random walk. Also a test
bed for RunTime, a framework for building real-time
interactive environments within Jupyter notebooks.
Implementations of semantic segmentation algorithms and
spatial topic models applied to point cloud data.
Current methods include variations of latent Dirichlet
allocation, a vector quantized-autoencoder, and a neural
clustering process. Also a test bed for PriorLDA, a
nonparametric topic model with encoded spatial priors.
A knowledge-based web application for robotic access and
retrieval using IBM Watson. The application provides an
interface for textual communication with a Webots
simulation of two robots collaboratively operating a
virtual warehouse. The user can submit queries about the
warehouse's contents as well as request items for
retrieval.
A webcam-based utility designed to provide an accessible
mode of computer interaction for people with impaired
mobility. The user can use ASL-inspired hand gestures
for 3D control in Autodesk Fusion as well as general
mouse control in Microsoft Windows. Developed for the
2021 HackOHI/O competition, where it won first place.
Research
Ettore Randazzo, Alexander Mordvintsev, Craig Fouts
(2023). Growing Steerable Neural Cellular Automata.
Proceedings of ALIFE 2023: The 2023 Conference on Artificial Life.
Alexander Mordvintsev, Ettore Randazzo, Craig Fouts
(2022). Growing Isotropic Neural Cellular Automata.
Proceedings of ALIFE 2022: The 2022 Conference on Artificial Life.
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