Ethan Kolasky

Ethan Kolasky

Title: Engineer

Company: SpaceX

From: Brownsville, TX / San Francisco

Lived In: LA, Jackson Hole, DC

Blurb

Hey I'm Ethan — an engineer at SpaceX and former-founder. My work spans AI, analysis, and modeling, building systems to improving the hardware analysis and design process on Starship.

I'm deeply interested in AI research, especially reinforcement learning and generative modeling. I independently completed much of the Stanford AI master's curriculum and have read hundreds of papers. I'm currently binging latent variable models, so please ask me about them.

I studied mechanical engineering at USC and remain fascinated by the subject... Read More

Articles and Talks

  • AI and Defense Keynote in DC
  • Policy Gradient Seminar
  • Model-Based RL Seminar
  • Generative Modeling Seminar

Projects

  • Transformers for Gaussian Splats
  • LocalBeta: Knowledge Graph for Travel
  • AltaEvents: Event Ticketing
  • Foldable Acoustic Guitar

About Me

Hey I'm Ethan — an engineer at SpaceX and former-founder. My work spans AI, analysis, and modeling, building systems to improving the hardware analysis and design process on Starship.

I'm deeply interested in AI research, especially reinforcement learning and generative modeling. I independently completed much of the Stanford AI master's curriculum and have read hundreds of papers. I'm currently binging latent variable models, so please ask me about them.

I studied mechanical engineering at USC and remain fascinated by the subject, especially in the applying AI to systems operating in the real world.

Outside of work I'm an avid backcountry skier, surfer, biker, and runner. I grew up in DC and then Jackson Hole, and carry the love of the outdoors and adventure with me to this day.

Career

  • SpaceX (2026–Present): Engineer on the Starship team.
  • Alaris Security (2024–2026): CTO & Co-founder of an AI-powered cybersecurity platform.
  • LocalBeta (2023–2024): Co-founded an AI-driven outdoor recreation search engine that indexes backcountry skiing, trail running, and biking routes.
  • Alta Events (2021–2022): Founded a college event-ticketing startup while in school, grew it to 15K users and early profitability. Built the full stack (React, Node.js, iOS) and managed weekly events with 5K+ attendees. Turned down acquisition offers to focus on AI and mechanical engineering.
  • Education: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Physics from USC (2023).

Articles and Talks

Filtering and sorting
Sort by:
DC Keynote: Autonomous Systems and the Next Revolution in Military Affairs

DC Keynote: Autonomous Systems and the Next Revolution in Military Affairs

A comprehensive keynote exploring how autonomous systems and artificial intelligence are reshaping modern defense strategy. From unmanned aerial vehicles to AI-driven decision support systems, examine the technological innovations driving the next revolution in military affairs and their implications for national security.

Read More →
Model-Based RL: Bringing Techniques from Games to the Real World

Model-Based RL: Bringing Techniques from Games to the Real World

Dive into model-based reinforcement learning approaches that leverage world models for efficient learning. Learn how methods like MuZero and DreamerV3, initially developed for game environments, are now being adapted to solve complex real-world robotics challenges with limited data.

Read More →
Generative Modeling 101

Generative Modeling 101

An introduction to the foundations of generative modeling, covering key architectures from Variational Autoencoders to Diffusion Models. Understand how these powerful techniques enable machines to create realistic images, text, and other data, and explore their practical applications in modern AI systems.

Coming Soon
Intro to Policy-Gradient RL: From Robotics to Language Models

Intro to Policy-Gradient RL: From Robotics to Language Models

Explore the fundamentals of policy-gradient reinforcement learning methods and their applications across diverse domains. From robotic control systems to fine-tuning large language models, discover how REINFORCE, PPO, and TRPO have revolutionized sequential decision-making in modern AI.

Coming Soon

Contact Me

If you'd like to reach out for any reason please shoot me an email or connect on LinkedIn. I'd love to talk research or anything else!

Mountain landscape