Team

Tommy Gallagher

Tommy is pursuing an M.S. in Engineering Management at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. His research interests include data-driven disaster management, with an emphasis on emergency resource allocation and evacuation planning in wildfire response. In his free time, he enjoys fishing and playing basketball. 

Michael Vieira

Michael is a 4th year Industrial Engineering student with an interest in public safety operations research, focusing on optimizing emergency response systems and improving community resilience. His interests include disaster preparedness, resource allocation modeling, and data-driven decision-making in dynamic environments. Outside of research, he enjoys hiking, watching football, off-roading, and playing tennis.

Shashank Thapa

Shashank is a fourth-year Industrial Engineering student. He is passionate about process improvement, data analytics, and optimization for decision-making. He recently completed a spring internship at Tesla in the Model S/X castings division. He will be joining SpaceX this summer as an engineering intern. His current research focuses on optimizing police dispatch models using historical data to promote safety.  

Daniel Hopkins

Daniel is a fourth-year Industrial Engineering student at Cal Poly. He is interested in the application of operations research and data-driven decision-making to improving healthcare access. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer, biking, and running. 

Theo Sprouse 

Theo is a fourth-year Industrial Engineering student at Cal Poly. His research interests include optimization, statistics analysis, algorithm design and data science. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, playing basketball, and cooking.

David Harris

David is currently completing an M.S. in Engineering Management at Cal Poly. His research examines data-driven optimization and dynamic resource allocation, with a focus on applications in municipal fire departments. Outside of his research, he spends his time on music, camping, photography, and biking. 

Jake Howard

2024-2025

Jake completed an M.S. in Engineering Management in 2025. His academic and research interests mainly focus on leveraging big data and mathematical modeling to support data-driven decision-making. Outside of academia, he is an avid sports fan who enjoys golfing, snowboarding, and traveling.

Owen Lassa

2024-2025

Owen did his master's in Engineering Management. His research centers around leveraging data analytics and optimization to enhance decision-making in shelter location planning. Outside of academics, he enjoys playing the piano, watching horror movies, practicing Chinese, and staying active through sports. 

Chandler Kuhn

2024-2025

Chandler finished his M.S. in Engineering Management. As a former volunteer firefighter, his research focus has been in data-driven optimization with applications to fire department operational risk assessment. He is also currently pursuing his Private Pilot’s License and loves the mountains, finding opportunities to hike, bike, and ski in his free time.

Ryan Hofmann

2024-2025

Ryan completed his master Engineering Management at Cal Poly, with a research focus in operations research, data analytics, and supply chain and risk management. Outside of academics, he enjoys golfing, weightlifting, and cooking. Originally from Seattle, he has a deep love for the water and is PADI certified, often spending his free time scuba diving.