Our Vision
An AI that possesses consciousness…
and the curiosity, amazement, and wonder of a child.
About
Nonlinear Dynamics is a research company at the intersection of neuroscience, mathematics, and machine learning. We pursue a first-principles path toward artificial general intelligence — not by scaling existing paradigms, but by understanding the computational architecture of consciousness itself.
Founded by Ronald Stesiak and headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, we work at the frontier of predictive coding, cortical modeling, and emergent cognition. Our research partnerships span the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and NVIDIA's applied AI division.
Research
Our work spans the theoretical foundations and engineering required to build machines that don't just compute — they understand.
Implementing hierarchical predictive coding networks grounded in the Free Energy Principle. Our models minimize surprise through active inference, mirroring how biological brains construct reality from prediction error.
Designing computational substrates inspired by the neocortex's columnar organization. Our architectures capture the six-layer structure and lateral/feedback connectivity that enable flexible, generalizable reasoning.
Leveraging chaos theory, attractor dynamics, and bifurcation analysis to understand how stable cognition emerges from fundamentally unstable neural substrates. Intelligence lives at the edge of chaos.
Our flagship research program in collaboration with the U.S. Air Force. Developing next-generation AI systems for complex decision-making under uncertainty in adversarial, high-stakes environments.
Pioneering CUDA-based neural simulation since NVIDIA's early days. Our custom kernels enable real-time simulation of large-scale spiking networks and continuous-time attractor models on modern GPU architectures.
Investigating the computational correlates of consciousness. We study how subjective experience, curiosity, and wonder might emerge from sufficiently complex self-modeling systems.
Publications
Our research contributions to the fields of artificial intelligence, computational neuroscience, and nonlinear dynamics.
Macroscopic EEG fields can be an explicit top-down neocortical mechanism that directly drives bottom-up processes that describe memory, attention, and other neuronal processes. The top-down mechanism considered is macrocolumnar EEG firings in neocortex, as described by a statistical mechanics of neocortical interactions (SMNI), developed as a magnetic vector potential A.
Team
Founder & Research Scientist
Research Scientist in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Computational Neuroscience, and Computational Finance. Founder of Nonlinear Dynamics, conducting classified research in Artificial General Intelligence sponsored by the United States Air Force and NVIDIA since 2020.
Published co-author in Computational Neuroscience, including work on electroencephalographic field influence on calcium momentum waves through a 12-year postdoctoral research tenure at the Physical Studies Institute — mentored in Statistical Mechanics and Nonlinear Multivariate Partial Differential Stochastic Equations.
Former Quantitative Analyst at Pion Capital, mentored by Andy Yen, PhD and Lester Ingber, PhD. Developed code in C, CUDA, and TensorFlow to solve nonlinear stochastic PDEs for volatility surface calculation across S&P 500 companies. Devised novel options forecasting models — including the Alpha Log Stable model — leveraging Heston, Black-Scholes, and Variance Gamma probability density functions with Fourier methods to outperform the S&P 500 by 15%.
Carnegie Mellon University — Visiting Scholar, Master's Computational Finance
University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering — Electrical Engineering (1989–1996). Varsity Crew.
Partners & Advisors
We work with researchers and engineers across the U.S. Air Force, NVIDIA, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Pittsburgh. Interested in joining our mission? We're always looking for exceptional minds.
Contact
Whether you're a researcher interested in collaboration, a government agency exploring AI capabilities, or an organization seeking consulting — we'd like to hear from you.