J. Simon Richard

Ph.D. in Computer Science

Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

• Research Focus: LLMs & Formal Methods

B.S. Computer Science and Mathematics | 4.0 GPA

Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH

• WPT Leadership Award
• Outstanding Mathematics Student Award
• Student Achievement Award (Engineering)

Graduate Researcher

Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
Advised by Dr. Abulhair Saparov

• Develop Verus benchmarks that evaluate agents on selecting verification tasks and boundaries, generating specifications, and adding proof annotations.
• Build LLM agents that perform these verification tasks in Rust/Verus codebases.
• Explore meta-level design questions for minimal typed intermediate languages that enforce safety properties with small, efficient trusted checkers.
• Build Agent Dev Lab, public tooling with run observability for coding-agent development that supports this research.

Graduate Researcher Program (GRP) Intern — Cyber Security

The Boeing Company, Arlington, VA

• Explored cyber-security and systems-engineering-related research topics in an aerospace setting, focusing on problems that program verification can inform.
• Gained exposure to CHERI, a memory-safety-focused hardware architecture.
• Wrote internal funding proposals for university-led research.

Senior Math / Computer Science Project: "Large Language Model Reasoning and AutoFormalization"

Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH
Advised by Dr. Aditi Singh, Dr. L. Felipe Martins and Dr. Shawn D. Ryan

• Created a novel framework for proposition autoformalization
• Built a system integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) with the Lean 4 proof assistant (via tool use), enabling verification of definitions and proofs generated by LLMs.
• Managed a team of three other Computer Science and Data Science seniors, directing research and engineering efforts.
• Explored the foundations of formal theorem proving and the Lean 4 proof language.

Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH
Advised by Dr. Ivan Soprunov

• Wrote exploratory and proof-oriented code using SageMath (an extension of Python).
• Reasoned in the context of geometry (2D and 15D), combinatorics, linear algebra, and group theory.
• Refactored research code, improving readability, usability, and performance.

Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH
Advised by Dr. Satish Kumar

• Critically evaluated a hybrid quantum-classical machine learning technique using cross-validation and extensive hyperparameter tuning.
• Reproduced the model architecture from scratch using PyTorch and Pennylane.
• Published findings concluding that the classical-only models perform just as well as models using the hybrid quantum-classical methodology.

R&D Intern

MIM Software, Beachwood, OH
Advised by Dr. Soroush Pahlavian

• Reviewed and presented on current literature.
• Reproduced several methodologies for adapting an open source 2D image segmentation model in order to segment 3D medical scans using publicly available code and data.
• Fine-tuned those models using a proprietary CT scan dataset.
• Summarized findings in a technical report and presented the results to MIM's R&D Team and Chief Science Officer.

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

• Host lab sessions, guiding students through hardware and software labs
• Grade labs, homework assignments, exams

Computer Peer Teacher (CPT) Coordinator

Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH

• Managed a team of 8 CPTs, including hiring, training, class assignments, & time sheets
• Improved IT infrastructure and cybersecurity.
• Organized 8 computer science events, coordinated with faculty and peer programs.
• Received the Washkewicz Peer Teacher (WPT) Leadership Award

Computer Peer Teacher (CPT)

Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH

• Provided 1-on-1 assistance to students learning Python, Java, and C
• Helped organize computer science events.

Peer Math Tutoring

Lakeland Community College, Kirtland, OH

• Tutored college mathematics students through Calculus III in online and in-person sessions.

Data & DevOps (IT) Intern

The Sherwin-Williams Company, Cleveland, OH

• Built and launched a Next.js + Snowflake analytics proof-of-concept with business stakeholders.
• Set up CI for Snowflake schema codebase
• Proved concept for AI-generated KPI reports
• Deployed/debugged web app & Tekton on Kubernetes
• Set up frontend tracing with Grafana Faro

Software Engineering Intern

MIM Software Inc., Beachwood, OH

• Implemented UI features and bug fixes in a production codebase.
• Added support for a legacy file format to improve compatibility with older data.

Software Engineering Intern

Integrated Mill Systems Inc., Willoughby, OH

• Developed a PLC data-logging service for the Raspberry Pi using Python / Bash Scripting, Docker, Rust, and sockets.
• Wrote a data-visualization web app using React and d3.js.