Joel Michelson

2000 Grand Ave · Nashville, TN 37212 · (205) 910-8*** · joelmichelson@gmail.com

I am a PhD student at Vanderbilt University researching artificial intelligence as part of the AIVAS lab.

Education

School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,

Vanderbilt University

PhD Student, Computer Science
Focus: Intelligent Systems
August 2017 - Present

Lincoln College,

Oxford University

Medieval European Art, Religion, and History
Fall 2015

Rhodes College

Computer Science
Minor: Physics
August 2013 - May 2017

Scientific Publications

Social Cognition Paradigms ex Machinas

Joel Michelson, Deepayan Sanyal, James Ainooson, Yuan Yang, Maithilee Kunda
AAAI Fall Symposium Series 2021: Computational Theory of Mind for Human-machine Teams
November 2021

A Measure of Visuospatial Reasoning Skills: Painting the Big Picture

Joel Michelson, Deepayan Sanyal, James Ainooson, Maithilee Kunda
The Eighth Annual Conference on Advances in Cognitive Systems
August 2020

Part of Your World: Trends in the Visual Complexity of Digital Media

Joel Michelson, Deepayan Sanyal, Maithilee Kunda
The Forty-second Annual Cognitive Science Society Meeting
July 2020

Learning Spatially Structured Image Transformations Using Planar Neural Networks

Joel Michelson, Joshua H. Palmer, Aneesha Dasari, Maithilee Kunda
Arxiv preprint
December 2019

Probabilistic Generation of Ragtime Music From Classical Melodies

Joel Michelson, Hong Xu, Phillip B. Kirlin
Sixth International Conference of the Society for Mathematics and Computation in Music
Mexico City, Mexico
June 2017

Myo Arm-swinging to explore a virtual environment

Morgan McCullough, Hong Xu, Joel Michelson, Matthew Jackoski, Wyatt Pease, William Cobb, William Kalescky, Joshua Ladd, Betsy Williams
ACM Symposium on Applied Perception
Tübingen, Germany.
September 2015

Skills

I am accustomed to writing machine learning code using modern libraries.

I am also comfortable using object-oriented programming and modern game engines.

Programming Languages & Tools
  • Python, C, C++, Java, GML, C#
  • Tensorflow, Keras, Pytorch, Jupyter, Numpy, Matplotlib
    • Gamemaker: Studio, Unity

Interests

My central motivation is understanding human cognition and applying that understanding to advances in artificial intelligence. In particular, I am fascinated by the qualitative differences between humans and animals that appear to have emerged incredibly recently on an evolutionary timescale. Specific examples of these differences upon which I have focused are compositionality and theory of mind.

The above curiosities have driven my ongoing research in the realms of deep reinforcement learning, evolutionary algorithms, and models of knowledge representations.

Outside of the academic life, I play piano, design video games, and write fiction.

Selected Games I've Made

Complete games

  • 2015
    • fuck you

  • Have a Heart

    Experimental online multiplayer card game
    94.9% average rating
    >10k downloads
    "this game is a masterpiece"

For 48-hour Game Jams

  • 2019
    • Octopus Dating Simulator

  • Now It's Personal

    Every round, pick up a weapon and fight a mimic of yourself from the previous round.
    "a lot of fun overall"
  • 2019
    • Octopus Dating Simulator

  • Octopus Dating Simulator

    A tower defense game in which the towers are produced via breeding.
    "a very charming game with really nice humour"
  • 2018
    • Into the Volcano

  • Into the Volcano

    A puzzle game featuring an infinite puzzle generator.
    "generator is really well made"
  • 2018
    • Octopus Dating Simulator

  • Oak Mountain

    Solve riddles by drawing paths on a map.
    1st place Innovation
    "doesn't just stand out in [the game jam] but over games in general too."
  • 2018
    • CB

  • Calvinball

    Two games in one - a homerun derby and a sledding race.
    "A+++"
  • 2015
    • Octopus Dating Simulator

  • A Sound Decision

    A platformer in which the player is blind but can 'see' using sound.
    Made as a team effort
    3rd place Overall; 1st place Atmosphere, Sound
    "my favorite game of the competition so far"
  • 2012
    • Octopus Dating Simulator

  • Barbican

    A castle building game.
    1st place Overall, Gameplay
    "a fun little game"