Intellectual development statement

My research focuses on issues in the intersection of computer science (especially artificial intelligence and multiagent systems) and economics (especially microeconomic theory, game theory, social choice, and mechanism design). Each of these two disciplines can contribute significantly to the other. On the one hand, as computer systems become more interconnected, multiple parties must interact in the same environment and compete for scarce resources, which necessarily introduces economic phenomena. Here, economic theory can contribute to computer science—though the specific environments faced by computer scientists often require new contributions. On the other hand, in the past, deployed economic mechanisms (such as auctions and exchanges) have been designed to require very limited computing and communication resources, even though economic theory allows for much more powerful mechanisms in principle. Computer science can contribute to economics by allowing us to fully operationalize economic theory, resulting in more efficient as well as entirely novel mechanisms—though this requires the design of new algorithms as well as other contributions. I am devoted to exploring both of these directions. Most of my research can be placed in at least one of the following four categories. These categories do not separate cleanly. More detail on these topics is given later in this statement.