I’m David Berthiaume, founder and research engineer at Lixel.

Lixel is a small, focused practice built around four lanes: independent mathematics and computation research, technical consulting for hard problems in applied AI and scientific computing, advanced math and ML tutoring, and (in development) owned software and creative work.

Mission

Lixel strives to make a significant, positive contribution to the world, and to help people who think and learn differently thrive and make contributions of their own.

Background

I studied at Harvard, with cross-registration at MIT, and have published and patented work in mathematics and applied data science. I was Co-PI on a NASA scientific-computing project running parallel codes on heterogeneous GPU clusters, and I founded and sold a startup. Most of my work since has been engineering and research across applied ML, simulation, real-time systems, and graph algorithms. I’ve always enjoyed computer graphics and challenging problems. I also started writing games and graphics engines as a kid and never really stopped.

What “Lixel” means

Light + pixel. The idea that clarity, agency, and meaningful structure can emerge from simple, well-understood fundamental pieces, whether that’s pixels building an image, agents building a society, or the small combinatorial blocks behind a proof.