PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ameet Talwalkar

Ameet Talwalkar is a machine learning researcher whose work includes tools for training models and testing AI coding assistants. He coauthored Foundations of Machine Learning in 2012 and helped develop Apache Spark's MLlib library. After research at UC Berkeley and a faculty role at UCLA, he co-founded Determined AI in 2017 and joined Carnegie Mellon's Machine Learning Department in 2018. His 2016 paper with Kevin Jamieson on hyperparameter optimization received the AISTATS Test of Time Award in 2026. As of October 2026, he is an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon and chief scientist at Datadog, with research on AI for science, human-AI interaction, and specialized models and agents.

Now at
Carnegie Mellon University and Datadog
Works
149
Citations
19,666
h-index
47
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. By 2010

    Degrees and Berkeley research

    He earns a BS at Yale University and completes his PhD at New York University's Courant Institute in 2010, advised by Mehryar Mohri. In 2010, he is a postdoctoral scholar at UC Berkeley's AMPLab, advised by Michael I. Jordan.

  2. 2012

    Foundations of Machine Learning

    With Mehryar Mohri and Afshin Rostamizadeh, he coauthors Foundations of Machine Learning, published by MIT Press in 2012.

  3. 2013–2015

    MLlib and UCLA

    In 2013, he is one of the authors of MLlib, a Spark library with distributed algorithms for classification, regression, collaborative filtering, and clustering. UCLA welcomes him as an assistant professor in its Computer Science Department for the 2014–2015 academic year.

  4. 2016

    Faster hyperparameter search

    With Kevin Jamieson, he publishes “Non-stochastic Best Arm Identification and Hyperparameter Optimization” at AISTATS in 2016. The method speeds up the search for model settings by giving more resources to promising choices.

  5. 2017–2018

    Determined AI and CMU

    He co-founds Determined AI with Neil Conway and Evan Sparks in 2017 and serves as its chief scientist. In January 2018, he joins Carnegie Mellon University's Machine Learning Department as an assistant professor.

  6. 2018

    Hyperband and SysML

    Hyperband, which he coauthors in 2018, speeds up random search for model settings through adaptive resource allocation and early stopping. In February 2018, he serves as program chair of the inaugural SysML conference at Stanford, which brings together research on systems and machine learning.

  7. 2021

    CAREER award and HPE

    He receives a National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2021 for research on automating the design of neural networks across different domains. In June 2021, Hewlett Packard Enterprise announces its acquisition of Determined AI, whose open-source platform helps engineers train AI models at scale.

  8. 2025

    Evaluating AI coding assistants

    In 2025, he coauthors Copilot Arena, a platform that collects developers' preferences between pairs of AI code completions in their working environment. The team releases its code and data to support evaluations of coding assistants with human feedback.

  9. 2026

    AISTATS Test of Time Award

    In 2026, he and Kevin Jamieson receive the AISTATS Test of Time Award for their 2016 paper “Non-stochastic Best Arm Identification and Hyperparameter Optimization.”

  10. As of October 2026

    Research at CMU and Datadog

    As of October 2026, he is an associate professor in Carnegie Mellon University's Machine Learning Department and chief scientist at Datadog. His research covers AI for science, human-AI interaction, and specialized models and agents.

Career

  1. NowCarnegie Mellon UniversityAssociate Professor of Machine Learning
  2. NowDatadogChief Scientist
  3. From 2017Determined AICo-founder, Chief Scientist
  4. 2014–2015University of California, Los AngelesAssistant Professor of Computer Science
  5. 2010–2014University of California, BerkeleyPostdoctoral Scholar
  6. 2008–2010Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences

Education

  1. 2010New York UniversityPhD
  2. Yale UniversityBS

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Ameet Talwalkar yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Ameet Talwalkar edx.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. NYU Computer Science Department cs.nyu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Computer scientists to develop machine learning tools to analyze massive sets of genomic data | UCLA Samueli School Of Engineering samueli.ucla.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Mehryar Mohri -- Foundations of Machine Learning - Book cs.nyu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. mloss | Projects submitted by atalwalkar. mloss-static.ml.tu-berlin.de. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. New Faculty 2014-15 | UCLA Samueli School Of Engineering samueli.ucla.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. Non-stochastic Best Arm Identification and Hyperparameter Optimization proceedings.mlr.press. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. Hewlett Packard Acquires AI Company Co-founded by Machine Learning Professor ml.cmu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  9. Ameet Talwalkar Joins the Machine Learning Department ml.cmu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  10. Hyperband: A Novel Bandit-Based Approach to Hyperparameter Optimization jmlr.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  11. SysML Conference mlsys.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  12. Talwalkar Earns NSF Career Award ml.cmu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  13. Copilot Arena: A Platform for Code LLM Evaluation in the Wild proceedings.mlr.press. Checked 27 October 2026.
  14. 2026 Conference virtual.aistats.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  15. Ameet Talwalkar cs.cmu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  16. 2026 Speakers | DASH by Datadog dash.datadoghq.com. Checked 27 October 2026.