Espen Slettnes MIT, Class of 2027

I am a sophomore majoring in Artificial Intelligence & Decision Making and a member of Professor Navid Azizan's research group of the MIT Laboratory for Information & Decision Systems (LIDS). My current interests include AI, machine learning, algorithms, and more. I actively research and design algorithmic tools and develop new generative models for synthetic data generation with privacy guarantees. In addition, I work as a lab assistant for a machine learning class. My passion for mathematics and problem-solving began early, guiding my path through middle and high school where I concurrently enrolled at UC Berkeley, studying mathematics, physics, and economics. During this time, I participated in the MIT PRIMES-USA internship program, researched combinatorics, including game theory, graph theory, and learning algorithms. I also became deeply involved with Berkeley Math Circle, where I have taught collegiate math topics to high school students, designed proof-based monthly contests, and lead a team of high school and college collaborators. Outside academics, I compete in intercollegiate ballroom dancing contests. When I am not exploring math or coding various projects, you can also find me improvising on the piano, designing video games, or playing hidden-role or social deduction games with friends.

Publications and Preprints:

• Minimal Embedding Dimensions of Rectangle k-Visibility Graphs
  E. Slettnes. Journal of Graph Applications and Algorithms, Vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 59-96, January 2021. DOI: 10.7155/jgaa.00550, ISBN: 1526-1719. Mentor: Dr. Jesse Geneson of San Jose State University.
  
  Explore the 3D models from this paper.
  


• Sharp bounds on the price of bandit feedback for several models of mistake-bounded online learning
  R. Feng, J. Geneson, A. Lee, E. Slettnes, Theoretical Computer Science, Volume 965, 18 July 2023, 113980. DOI: 10.1016/j.tcs.2023.113980. arXiv: 2209.01366
  


• Extracting Tree Statistics from the Quasisymmetric Bernardi Polynomial (March 2020)
  L. Cai, E. Slettnes, and J. Zhou; Mentor: Dr. Duncan Levear of MIT.


• Expected Capture Time and Throttling Number for Cop versus Gambler (May 2019)
  J. Geneson, C. Quines, E. Slettnes, and S. Tsai. arXiv: 1902.05860
  


• Variations of the Cop and Robber Game on Graphs (October 2017)
  E. Slettnes, C. Quines, S. Tsai, and J. Geneson. arXiv: 1710.11352
  

Selected awards and recognitions:

• The Atlas Scholarship, Fellow, 2023.
• National Merit Scholarship, Scholar, 2023.
• Caroline D. Bradley Scholar, Class of 2023.
• USA Mathematical Olympiad Gold Award, 2022.
• Davidson Fellows Honorable Mention, 2021.
• Spirit of Ramanujan Fellow, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
• S. T. Yau High School Science Award Semifinalist, 2019.
• Broadcom MASTERS, First Place in Mathematics, 2018. (Minor Planet 34379 Slettnes was named in my honor.)
• California Science & Engineering Fair, Project of the Year, 2018
• Bay Area Scholastic Writing Award, Silver key in the Personal Essay and Memoir Category, 2022
• The President's Volunteer Service Award, Gold Level, 2021