Roy Fox

Roy Fox is an Assistant Professor and founder of the Intelligent Dynamics Lab (indylab) in the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine. He is affiliated with the Center for Machine Learning and Intelligent Systems (CML), the Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization Center (ACO), and the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences (IMBS). His academic background includes a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem under Naftali Tishby, an MSc from the Technion IIT under Moshe Tennenholtz, and postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley with Ion Stoica (RISELab) and Ken Goldberg (AUTOLAB).

Research Interests: Fox focuses on control learning—the intersection of reinforcement learning, control theory, and robotics. His work emphasizes structure, exploration, and optimization in deep control systems for both virtual and physical agents. Key themes include task-relevant perception, safe reinforcement learning, and scalable algorithms for complex decision-making environments.

Recent Work Trends: Recent publications highlight advancements in safe exploration (shields for reinforcement learning), state abstraction (selective perception), and language-guided world modeling for embodied agents. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications in robotics and autonomous systems.

Labs & Collaborations: The Intelligent Dynamics Lab explores adaptive systems that learn from dynamic environments. Collaborations span machine learning theory, robotics, and interdisciplinary centers like CML and ACO. Fox actively seeks postdoctoral researchers and graduate/undergraduate students to join his team.