Nathan Crock

Nathan Crock

Ph.D. Scientific Computing  ·  Affiliate Faculty, FSU  ·  Manager AI Engineering, Premera

My interests center on the infrastructure of intelligent agency. At its core: context engineering for foundation model based systems; how memory architectures, retrieval-augmented generation, and context window optimization determine what an agent can know and do at any moment. Layered on top is the problem of scale: how these techniques compose into multi-agent orchestration pipelines where dozens of agents must reason, delegate, and collaborate without exploding the context budgets of any individual model. The deeper question driving all of it is decentralized coordination: how autonomous agents reach agreement, divide labor, and maintain coherent collective behavior through consensus protocols, stigmergic shared state, and peer-to-peer negotiation, without a central orchestrator to impose order. These threads constitute the engineering science of the agentic web: distributed, self-organizing AI systems that are robust, composable, and deployable at production scale.
Experience +
2025 – now
Manager, AI Engineering & Operations
Premera Blue Cross — Seattle, WA
2024 – 2025
Distinguished AI Engineer (V)
Premera Blue Cross — Seattle, WA
2023 – 2024
Principal Data Scientist (IV)
Premera Blue Cross — Seattle, WA
2023 – now
Managing Member
Emelex — Tallahassee, FL
2021 – now
Affiliate Faculty, Scientific Computing
Florida State University — Tallahassee, FL
2021 – 2022
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer
Call Simulator — Tallahassee, FL
2018 – 2022
Director
NewSci Labs — Tallahassee, FL
2015 – 2018
Visiting Scholar
Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience — Jupiter, FL
2011 – 2014
Research Assistant
Center for Ocean Atmospheric Prediction Studies, FSU — Tallahassee, FL
2009 – 2011
Research Assistant
Computer Vision Lab, Math Dept., FSU — Tallahassee, FL
Education +
2014 – 2020
Doctor of Philosophy, Scientific Computing
Florida State University
2011 – 2013
Master of Science, Scientific Computing
Florida State University
2009 – 2011
Bachelor of Science with Honors, Mathematics
Florida State University
Invited Talks +
  • 2026 Building an Agentic Web: A Survey of Core Challenges in Decentralized Multi-Agent Systems — AI & Machine Learning Expo, Florida State University
  • 2025 Data Science Program Professional Development Seminar — Florida State University
  • 2025 Building a BRIDGE between Orthographic and Phonetic Processing — European Literacy Network, Cologne, Germany
  • 2025 Computational Modeling of English-Spanish Bilingual Reading — International Symposium on Bilingualism, San Sebastián, Spain
  • 2024 How AI is Learning to Understand Language — FCRR AI Innovation Series
  • 2024 HPIR Panel Discussion — AI Governance and Controls — World 50 Group
  • 2023 4-Day Database Workshop — Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship, FSU
  • 2023 Data Science in Industry — Financial Math Seminar, FSU
  • 2023 Neural Ordinary Differential Equations — ACM Seminar, FSU
  • 2022 Data Science in Entrepreneurship — Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship, FSU
  • 2022 Planning a Career After a Postdoc: Academic and Non-Academic Paths — FSU Post-Doctoral Association (Non-academic Expert Panel)
  • 2022 Keynote Address — COMMference, Hilton Garden Inn, Ocala, FL
  • 2021 Demystifying Machine Learning — FSU Libraries
  • 2021 Databases, Business and Complex Systems — FSU School of Entrepreneurship
  • 2019 Demystifying Machine Learning — FSU Libraries
  • 2018 Hey, Alexa. What is AI? — Moonshot Night @ CoLab (co-presented with Dr. Emily Pritchard)
  • 2017 Colloquium on Bayesian Inference Techniques — FSU Computational Science Program
Publications +
  • Cresswell-Clay, Evan, Nathan Crock, Joel Tabak, and Gordon Erlebacher.
    "A compartmental model to investigate local and global Ca²⁺ dynamics in astrocytes."
    Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 12 (2018): 94.
  • Peter, Shani, Nathan Crock, Beau J. Billings, Richard Wu, Shane Sterling, Sonia Koul, William F. Taber, Karina Pique, Roei Golan, and Gerry Maitland.
    "Argentine tango reduces fall risk in Parkinson's patients."
    Journal of the American Medical Directors Association 21, no. 2 (2020): 291–292.
  • Peter, S., N. Crock, K. Carey, L. Johnson, A. Harbour, J. VanWart, S. Cofer et al.
    "Validation of previous empirical studies on the effect of Argentine Tango on the geriatric population with and without neurodegenerative disease: 1216."
    Movement Disorders 35 (2020).
  • Arciniega-Nevárez, José Antonio, Marko Berghoff, and Eric Rubiel Dolores-Cuenca.
    "An algebra over the operad of posets and structural binomial identities."
    Boletín de la Sociedad Matemática Mexicana 29.1 (2023): 1–29.
Consulting +
  • 2024Natural Language Query tool for database access — Florida Center for Reading Research
  • 2023Designed and implemented Cognitive Reading Model — TextProject
  • 2021Applied NLP to decades of epidemiological reports — International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID)
  • 2020AI technical advisor for film script — Artificial Intelligence Movie Script Review
  • 2018Developed 3D point cloud scanning gateway — Multimedia Group
  • 2014SLAM and computer vision algorithms — NASA AMES, Intelligent Robotics Group
  • 2012Image registration algorithms in C++ — TourWrist
  • 2011Secure client/server architecture for global IoT network — Bagotronix
Teaching & Advising +

Teaching

  • Sp 2012Scientific Computing Essentials — Course Designer & Instructor, FSU
  • Fa 2014Data Mining — Teaching Assistant, FSU

Thesis Advising

  • 2021John Abascal — Honors Thesis, Mathematics — FSU
  • 2021Luke Van Poppering — Master's Thesis, Scientific Computing — FSU
  • 2021Eric Sharkey — Master's Thesis, Scientific Computing — FSU
  • 2021Jeremy Quinto — Master's Thesis, Scientific Computing — FSU
  • 2021Matthew Baratinni — DIS, Scientific Computing — FSU
Extended Visits +
  • 2018 Google, San Francisco, CA — Explored changing properties of latent spaces during learning in autoencoder architectures. Contact: Ian Johnson
  • 2017 National Autonomous University of Mexico, Querétaro — Interactive exploratory visualization tools for astrocyte microscopy data. Contact: Mónica López Hidalgo
Editorial Boards & Societies +
  • 2021–Review Editor — Journal of Frontiers in Neuroinformatics
  • Member — Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)
  • Member — American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Open Source +
  • Llama-index — Bug fixes
  • Convert2VTK — Command-line utility (Python) converting scientific model output data to VTK format
  • Scipy — Bug fixes
  • OpenTiles — Service that downloads satellite data, generates tiles, and uploads to GeoServer
Awards & Honors +
  • 2013International Space Apps Challenge Global Nominee — NASA
  • 2013International Space Apps Challenge Honorable Mention — NASA
  • 2013USIBA All American — United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association
  • 20122nd Place State Championships — Florida Collegiate Boxing Conference
  • 2011Student Scholarship — Supercomputing Conference
  • 2009NSF S-STEM Scholarship Recipient
  • 2009ALL-Florida Academic Team — Florida State Government
  • 2009ALL-USA Academic Team — USA Today
  • 2009Engineering Club Outstanding President — St. Petersburg College
  • 2009Honors College Scholar of the Year — St. Petersburg Honors College
  • 2009Distinguished International Officer — Phi Theta Kappa International Honors Society
  • 2008Distinguished International Officer — Phi Theta Kappa International Honors Society
  • 2008NSF S-STEM Scholarship Recipient
Services & Activities +
  • 2022–23Organizing Committee, Member — Machine Learning Expo (MLx23) — FSU
  • 2022–25Supervisory Committee — FSU Credit Union
  • 2019–20Organizing Committee, Chair — Machine Learning Expo (MLx19) — FSU
  • 2018–19Creator/Organizer — Machine Learning Expo (MLx18) — FSU
  • 2017–Organizer — Deep Learning TLH Meetup
  • 2016–18Advisor — Overleaf
  • 2015–16Associate Instructor — Program for Instructional Excellence, FSU
  • 2014–15Co-organizer — d3.unconf — GitHub HQ, San Francisco, CA
  • 2013–14Executive Board Member — United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association
  • 2012–13Vice Chairman — Florida Collegiate Boxing Conference
  • 2011–13Founder — Anhelo, Argentine Tango Club — FSU
  • 2011–13Founder — Renegade Boxing Club — FSU
  • 2009–10Assistant Director — Asian American Student Union, FSU
  • 2008–09Activities Coordinator — Asian American Student Union, FSU
  • 2008–09Activities Coordinator — Vietnamese Student Association, FSU
  • 2008–09Tutor — Athletic Academic Support Center, FSU
  • 2008–09Tutor — CARE Program, College of Medicine, FSU
  • 2008–10Tutor — Math Help Center, FSU
  • 2007–08President — Honors College Student Consortium, SPC
  • 2007–08President — Innovative Engineering, SPC
  • 2007–08Vice President — Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, SPC
  • 2007–08Senator — Student Government Association, SPC
  • 2005–11Member — Florida Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention State Advisory Group (Appointed by Governor Jeb Bush)