About Avalisa
Independent Researcher / ElmWater AI
avalisa@elmwaterai.com
San Francisco, CA
I am an AI researcher focused on reinforcement learning, policy optimization, and large-scale learning systems.
My work spans theory, controlled empirical study, and production-scale learning systems, including RL algorithms, LLM post-training, evaluation systems, and multi-agent deployment.
Experience
Independent AI Researcher
2025 - Present
- Developing a unified bias-variance analysis of GRPO-style operators for policy optimization.
- Studying how filtering, token weighting, and advantage normalization affect nonconvex optimization through bias and covariance channels.
Research Collaborator at ElmWater AI Lab
Jun 2025 - Present
- Conducted RL post-training on 32B to 70B language models in simulated decision environments.
- Designed reproducible LLM evaluation across 12 benchmarks with experiment tracking and systematic comparisons.
- Ran 100+ controlled experiments comparing 5 policy optimization methods across 8 tasks and multiple random seeds.
AI Engineer at Travelers Insurance Company
Jul 2023 - Mar 2025
- Architected a distributed multi-agent LLM system for document analysis and task processing, scaling to 1,000+ complex cases daily.
- Fine tuned large language models on private domain data for production-grade internal use.
Co-Founder and Lead Software Engineer at NearMeNow
Jan 2022 - May 2023
- Co-founded a consumer technology startup building a distributed real-time location platform for nearby activities and events.