Blake Burgstahler

Optimization and Quantum Computing

Blake Burgstahler is a Ph.D. student in Operations Research and a teaching assistant for the Mathematics Department. He got into Operations Research in his undergraduate OR course, seeing mathematics used in a tangible way to improve the quality and efficiency of a service provided to a client. He has worked with the United States Air Force as an AFRL Scholar on vehicle routing and scheduling problems and with Delta Air Lines as an optimization intern, building optimization tools for deployment across many projects.

In his free time, Blake enjoys traveling with his wife, making music (Oboe) and cooking.

Research Interests

Burgstahler’s research interests are in the overlaps that can be found between optimization techniques, machine learning, and quantum computing. His recent projects have focused on quantum circuit simulation, quantum approximate optimization algorithms, and quantum circuit optimizations.

Advisor(s)

Frank Mueller

Education

DegreeProgramSchoolYear
Expected GraduationSpring 2025
MSAMMaster of Science in Applied MathematicsUniversity of Washington2021
BSAPBachelor of Science in Applied PhysicsBethel University2020
BAMBachelor of Arts in MathematicsBethel University2020
Blake Burgstahler