Center for Nonlinear Studies

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Center for Nonlinear Studies

Selma Peterson

CNLS Postdoctoral Research Associate
XCP-AI4ND

AI/ML

Office: TA-3, Bldg 1690, Room 138
Mail Stop: B258
Email: slwanna@lanl.gov

Research highlight

After years of working as a roboticist deploying off-the-shelf AI and machine learning tools to address DOE mission challenges, I’ve developed a strong desire to build the theoretical foundation necessary to better understand, interpret, and improve these models—particularly their failure modes and reliability guarantees. My goal is to pursue and integrate the mathematical tools that enable such understanding, including probabilistic frameworks, formal verification methods, vector spaces, functional analysis, and related areas at the intersection of probability and geometry, such as differential geometry. I aim to deepen my expertise in these domains, and produce tangible outcomes: user-friendly, open-source tools that help others apply machine learning and AI with greater confidence and transparency.

Educational Background/Employment:

B.S. in Electrical Engineering (BSEE), University of Texas at Austin
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), University of Texas at Austin
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (PhD ME), University of Texas at Austin
Employment:
- 2017 - 2025: Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) – Nuclear and Applied Robotics Group
- 2017 - 2025: Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) – Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)

Research Interests:

Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence
Uncertainty Quantification
Functional Analysis
Inversion

Google Scholar

Selected Recent Publications:

Selma Wanna; Agnes Luhtaru; Ryan Barron; Jonathan Salfity; Juston Moore; Cynthia Matuszek; Mitch Pryor . Let’s Talk About Language! Investigating Linguistic Diversity in Embodied AI Datasets (2025)
Kilian Zepf; Selma Wanna; Marco Miani; Juston Moore; Jes Frellsen; Soren Hauberg; Frederik Warburg; Aasa Feragen . Laplacian Segmentation Networks Improve Epistemic Uncertainty Quantification (2024) 10.48550/arXiv.2303.13123
Selma Wanna; Shivansh Sharma; Christina Petlowany; Juston Moore; Mitch Pryor . An Overview of the Hand and Glove Segmentation Dataset (2025)