Nicholas Wagner

Dr. Nicholas Wagner comes to NSF after spending the last five years as a research staff member at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA). At IDA, he led its test and evaluation support for Task Force Lima, the Department of Defense’s generative AI task force. Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Arizona State University. He then attended Northwestern University, where he earned a Ph.D. also in Materials Science and Engineering. His research focused on how data-driven artificial intelligence approaches could enable faster discovery of materials useful for electronics. While a graduate student, Nicholas interned on the Google Accelerated Science team and was a visiting student at Los Alamos National Laboratory. At NSF, he supports program operations and evaluation for the ExpandAI and AI Research Institute programs. Outside of work, he enjoys playing video games, attending concerts, traveling, and reading books beside his cat Heidi.