Hi there!

My name is Alex. I’m a machine learning engineer, which means I design practical software that solves hard problems by processing tons of data in ways that nobody entirely understands. That requires a broad variety of different hard-won technical skills spanning math, programming, and infrastructure, but most days, I’m either waiting for Python scripts to finish running or writing Yet Another™ config file for AWS or Kubernetes.

This February, I defended my PhD thesis on modeling the dynamics of biological neural networks—using simulations, data science, and statistical physics to understand how neurons interact, and how that could inspire new ways to build computers. I’m still hanging around the lab, wrapping up some work on sequence models (like large language models) and how they can help us understand the brain.

I love untangling complex systems, whether it’s by finding a simple solution to a deep puzzle, helping someone understand the bigger picture, or building infrastructure to make the rest of the work easier and more reliable. If you want to talk about anything from MLops hot takes to theories of learning, my inbox at alex@spaeth.sh is always open.

Thanks for visiting,
Alex

PS: the photo is of my cat, not me. I am an actual human person, I promise.