Daniel is currently a third year Ph.D. student at Washington State University (WSU) in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He grew up in Norman, OK, receiving a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Oklahoma Gallogly College of Engineering in 2020 and 2021, with a focus on power systems protection considering high renewable energy penetration and multi-objective optimization for solar photovoltaic (PV) sizing and placement in radial feeders. At WSU, his research topic is robust grid-edge device coordination and the application of autonomous grid operations for distributed energy resources in distribution networks using deep reinforcement learning. The main focus in this domain lies on improving techniques for safe learning and mitigation of the simulation-to-reality gap for improved policy transfer to real systems. Daniel is also an intern at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in the Distributed Systems Group, an active member of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), and a National GEM Fellow.