About Me

Hi! I’m Clayton Ramsey, a Ph.D. student studying computer science at Rice University.

My research focuses on algorithms for robotics, specifically in planning. I’m especially interested in applications of hardware acceleration for planning algorithms: how can we use already-existing hardware to get the most out of our computers? The long-term goal of my work is to develop algorithms for reactive planning; that is, ways for robots to replan on the fly as the world changes around them. Right now, I’m looking at applications in task and motion planning: large, complex problems with massive long-horizon constraints.

On the side, I also like to play with high-performance programming, especially for automating games. I don’t have much time for it now, but I’m still interested in chess engines; my own chess engine, Fiddler, is open source. I do a lot of programming in Rust these days, but I also work with C, C++, and Python as needed. I dabble a little bit in web design and software engineering – you can see the fruits of that work here.

In my free time, I like to figure skate, dance, and bake. I’ve been a figure skater since I was three years old! I’m not in the competitive skating scene any more, but I still practice and goof off every so often. Dance-wise, I do a lot of different styles of partner dance: swing, international ballroom, and social Latin are my main genres, and Lindy hop is my favorite overall. I mostly bake for fun, and I do a lot of desserts. If I make any custom modifications to a recipe, I publish it on my recipes page.

Contact

I have deleted most of my social media accounts, but you can still reach me through a few old fashioned ways.