Student Spotlight: Kent Hippler
Meet Kent Hippler, an incoming PhD student in MS&E.
HOMETOWN
Orlando, FL
WHERE I LIVED BEFORE STANFORD
Burlingame, CA
ALMA MATERS
University of Florida
Stanford University
DEGREES & MAJORS
BS, Nuclear Engineering
MS, Management Science & Engineering
RESEARCH THEMES MY WORK REPRESENTS
AI & Data Science
Computational Social Science
Academic and work experience
Prior to pursuing a PhD, I served for six years as a Nuclear Propulsion Division Officer in the US Navy and also as a Systems Engineer at Maxar Technologies. During my time in these positions, I learned that effective decision making and resource optimization not only improves the ability to meet critical objectives but also strengthens team morale and motivation. These experiences inspired me to pursue my MS in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford to gain a greater understanding of optimization and strategic decision making. My Master's coursework and research in Stanford's Language Data and Reasoning Lab led me to want to pursue a PhD in MS&E so that I can develop new methods for decision and risk analysis and strategic decision making.
Impact I hope to have in my field and the world
Advances in AI are transforming strategic decision making with the development of new decision support systems. A critical challenge is ensuring that the underlying risk attitudes of these systems are still transparent to decision makers, which is an advantage that traditional parametric risk models still maintain. In my research, my goal is to develop decision support systems that combine the transparency of parametric models with the adaptability of AI to produce more accurate and personalized decision recommendations. After completing my PhD, I hope to continue applied research in industry to advance these types of decision support systems. I would also love for the opportunity to continue teaching the topics of optimization and decision/risk analysis at the collegiate level.
Interests and hobbies
I love to sing, and I am very grateful to perform with Stanford's Chamber Chorale. I have also enjoyed participating in several campus musical theatre productions, appearing previously in Into the Woods and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Come see me as Steven Kodaly in this year's Department of Music production of She Loves Me in January 2026! I also enjoy staying active through weightlifting, trail running, mountaineering, and snowboarding.
Published September 22, 2025.