Student Spotlight: Henry Robbins
Meet Henry Robbins, an incoming PhD student in MS&E.
HOMETOWN
Louisville, KY
WHERE I LIVED BEFORE STANFORD
New York, NY
ALMA MATER
Cornell University
DEGREE & MAJOR
BS, Operations Research & Information Engineering
RESEARCH THEMES MY WORK REPRESENTS
AI & Data Science
Academic and work experience
I've applied operations research to critical decisions for Cornell's COVID-19 response, large-scale optimization problems at Uber, and real-time pipelines at Saddlepoint Labs. My time in industry provided me with invaluable perspective on the complexities in solving real-world problems. I'm coming to Stanford in search of the next exciting problem.
Impact I hope to have in my field and the world
For the last 5 years, I've spent my time working on problems I never could have anticipated. I don't expect the future will be any different. There's a good chance the problem I want to solve doesn't exist yet.
Currently, I'm interested in ML for discrete optimization, applications of LLMs to optimization, and mechanistic interpretability. Broadly, I want to build a future where AI empowers people to work efficiently and meaningfully.
Interests and hobbies
I was a co-captain on the men's squash team at Cornell and am looking forward to being apart of the squash community at Stanford. I'm also excited to take advantage of the skiing on the west coast. I love live music. While living in New York City, I saw over 300 concerts.
Published September 22, 2025.