01Selected project
Foundation models and representation learning
Developing self-supervised and complex-valued learning systems, cross-modal representations, synthetic-data pipelines, and sim-to-real methods for limited-data sensing problems.
AI engineering · Multimodal systems · Autonomy
Leading intelligent systems from research to reality.
I’m Christopher Voelkel, a Senior AI Engineer and hands-on technical leader working across computer vision, multimodal learning, autonomous perception, and applied language models.
I guide teams through ambiguous problems, shape research and experiment plans, and stay close to implementation as ideas become deployable systems.
7+ yearsApplied research experience
Vision + autonomyMultimodal AI systems
Research → systemsTechnical leadership & delivery
Selected work
Perception, intelligence, and autonomous systems.
A focused view of the technical areas I work across, described at a public and practical level.
02Selected project
Applied language and generative AI
Building language-enabled AI applications, including data curation for LLaMA pretraining and fine-tuning, and applying generative models to technically demanding workflows.
03Selected project
Multimodal perception and autonomous systems
Building systems that combine imagery, metadata, and complementary sensors for detection, tracking, pose estimation, trajectory prediction, localization, and navigation.
04Selected project
Mobile ML prototype
A private exploratory prototype combining on-device visual recognition with contextual mobile interfaces.
Experience
From applied research to autonomous perception.
My path spans computer vision, multimodal learning, autonomy, aerospace, and applied language-model systems—alongside mentorship, experiment planning, and technical direction.
2025 — Present
Senior AI Engineer
KBR, Inc.
Researching foundation models, synthetic-data generation, multimodal learning, and generative methods for complex imagery.
2024 — 2025
AI Engineer
Booz Allen Hamilton
Built real-time perception and simulation systems, curated data for LLaMA pretraining and fine-tuning, and deployed a language-model application.
2022 — 2024
Research Assistant
Arizona State University
Conducted research in computational imaging, event-based vision, synthetic-aperture sensing, and learning-based navigation.
2023
Graduate Researcher
Boeing Research & Technology
Developed vision-based localization and evaluated LiDAR perception for autonomous aircraft research.
2017 — 2022
Research Scholar
Air Force Research Laboratory
Contributed to event-camera sensing, embedded perception, aerial robotics, and edge-computing research across five summers.
Research & education
A foundation in imaging, perception, and learning.
Master’s thesis · 2024
Correcting Motion Artifacts in Circular Synthetic Aperture Sonar Imagery with Deep Learning
Manuscript · submitted to IEEE TCI
Neural Network-based Homography Estimation with Event Cameras
IEEE Sensors · 2020
Measuring Power Usage and Sensitivity to Movement for Event-Based Cameras
View publicationEducation
M.S. Computer Engineering
Arizona State University
2024 · GPA 3.93B.S. Electrical Engineering
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
2022 · GPA 3.97Core capabilities
- PyTorch
- Computer vision
- Transformers
- Self-supervised learning
- Multimodal & CLIP-style learning
- Diffusion & generative AI
- Language-model systems
- LLaMA & Ollama
- Synthetic data
- Object detection & tracking
- Semantic segmentation
- Pose & trajectory estimation
- Autonomous perception & navigation
- Sensor fusion
- SAR & SAS imaging
- Remote sensing
- LiDAR & point clouds
- Novel view synthesis
- Model evaluation & benchmarking
- Python & Linux
- Docker, Kubernetes & AWS
- GPU & high-performance computing
Technical leadership
Clear direction. Hands-on delivery.
I lead through technical depth, clear priorities, and practical mentorship. I help engineers frame ambiguous problems, design useful experiments, and move promising models toward systems that can be evaluated, deployed, and trusted.
Outside work, I enjoy photography, mountain biking, country dancing, and exploring new places. I’m interested in how technology and intentional choices can make both work and everyday life better.