Ari Smith

Background

About Ari Smith

Ari Smith is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, under the advising of Dr. Justin Boutilier. Current research interests include critical algorithm studies with a feminist technoscience perspective, the use of mathematical optimization techniques in problems and applications of social choice theory and democratic theory (particularly, inverse optimization and gerrymandering in a current project), the sociotechnical infrastructuring of 'fairness' in operations research and modelling, and more recently, relations between preference, agency, and subject formation in interactions between humans and algorithmic/optimization technologies.Ari is a graduate student affiliate of the Holtz Center for Science an Technology Studies, and also currently holds an honorary appointment in UW's Department of Emergency Medicine, where he is working on a project pertaining to machine learning and the spread of COVID-19.Before his education in Wisconsin, Ari graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science, as well as a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies (concentration in Bass Performance) with secondary study in Classical Composition. At Oberlin, Ari studied bass performance under Dr. Peter Dominguez and composition under Dr. Stephen Hartke. He is currently an active bassist (and sometimes keyboardist) on the Wisconsin jazz, improvised, and experimental scene, having shared the stage with Hanah Jon Taylor, Vincent Davis, Justin Dillard, Dushun Mosley, Tim Russell, and others. A sample of his work as a composer and performer can be found at: