Growing up in Seattle, Washington, Gareth was always fond of tide pooling and exploring the beaches at low tide in the PNW. Starting his education at Colorado College, he studied Mathematics before moving back home to Seattle to complete his MSc in Applied Mathematics at UW. There he got his first taste of probability theory, machine learning, and deep learning, interests that he carried to Purdue University, where he completed his PhD in Mathematics, specializing in ML and deep reinforcement learning, studying under Prof. Haizhao Yang. Outside of school Gareth is passionate at in all things mountain related, growing up ski racing he is an avid skier, mountaineer and rock climber. Most recently he has added paragliding and speedflying to his long list of outdoor hobbies. While he never could have guessed that his research path would lead to marine mammal work, Gareth is thrilled at the opportunity to apply the skills developed at Purdue to help care for the animals at NMMF.
