In this episode, our guest is Sean Meyn, Professor and Robert C. Pittman Eminent Scholar Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Florida. The episode features Sean’s adventures in the areas of Markov chains, networks and Reinforcement Learning (RL) as well as anecdotes and trivia about beekeeping and jazz. Outline 00:00 - Intro 00:22 - Sean’s early steps 03:53 - Markov chains 08:45 - Networks 18:26 - Stochastic approximation 25:00 - Reinforcement Learning 38:57 - The intersection of Reinforcement Learning and  Control 42:37 - Favourite theorem 44:05 - Beekeeping and jazz 48:47 - Outro Episode links Sean’s website: https://meyn.ece.ufl.edu/ Sean’s books: shorturl.at/CFGRY (and T. Sargent's review: shorturl.at/hlGNR) G. Zames: shorturl.at/JPRWX (see also: shorturl.at/chiw5) State space model: shorturl.at/hST07 The life and work of A.A. Markov: shorturl.at/qsv35 Fluid model: shorturl.at/HKN56 M/M/1 queue: shorturl.at/dQW36 Borkar-Meyn theorem: shorturl.at/eSTV4 NCCR Automation Symposia: shorturl.at/csv03 (see also shorturl.at/ekpZ3) V. Konda’s PhD Thesis: shorturl.at/bdrv7 Podcast info Podcast website: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/incontrol/id1624068002 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7dZvt77XNtHxyrFqM8YTwf RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1632769.rss Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl83hwBSVRLYj2NWS08P9bg/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InControl-podcast-114303337936834 Twitter: https://twitter.com/IncontrolP Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/incontrol_podcast/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/incontrolpodcast/ Acknowledgments and sponsors This episode was supported by the National Centre of Competence in Research on «Dependable, ubiquitous automation» and the IFAC Activity fund. The podcast benefits from the help of an incredibly talented and passionate team. Special thanks to A. Bastani, B. Sawicki, E. Cahard, F. Banis, F. Dörfler, J. Lygeros, as well as the ETH  and mirrorlake studios.  Music was composed by A New Element. Support the show