From the Air Force to AI Agents, One Data Scientist's Mission to Build

July 20, 2026

Topics

Thomas Blalock

Education
M.S. in Data Science 2026, University of Virginia
B.S. in Computer Science and B.S. in Data Science with Minor in High Performance Computing 2025, U.S. Air Force Academy
Associate of Science 2021, New Mexico Military Institute

Hometown
Luther, OK

Thomas Blalock has always been driven by curiosity. Long before he knew the term "data science," he was teaching himself algebra for fun, building projects, and unknowingly creating his first machine learning model while experimenting with financial markets in high school.

Today, the U.S. Air Force operations research analyst is expanding that foundation through the University of Virginia's M.S. in Data Science (MSDS) program, where he's combining his passion for mathematics, engineering, entrepreneurship, and public service. Outside the classroom, he's launching AI ventures, co-founding the MSDS Startups Club, and exploring how data science can solve problems across industries — from national security to social connection.

Q: Tell us about your path to data science.

I grew up with a love of mathematics, engineering, and philosophy. In elementary school, I would spend my free time doing extra algebra problems and building things for fun. My first experience with data science was entirely accidental. It was freshman year in high school when I started paper trading the financial markets and had the idea to create my own trading indicator that was smarter than the indicators that Trading View provided. Without knowing it, I had made a very crude machine learning model.

It was only four years later when selecting my undergraduate major at the U.S. Air Force Academy that I realized I had stumbled into data science. It was important to me to select a major that would enable me to learn across a diversity of disciplines. Data science emerged as the obvious option since it both inspired me and could reach any corner of human knowledge.

Q: What do you hope to do with a master’s in data science?

UVA Data Science residential student thomas blalock in air force uniform with his machine learning poster presentation — Thomas Blalock and his poster presentation on machine learning.

I am currently in the Air Force as an operations research analyst. A data science master's degree will enable me to work as a highly professional and competent data scientist in service to our nation.

Additionally, building a business inspires me. Data science knowledge will enable me to build and scale startups. I am currently working on two projects that I'm excited to see come to fruition: Sidequest and the Agent Service Index [see below].

Q: What has surprised you about the M.S. in Data Science program so far?

I am always amazed by the diversity in data science. In this program, I've worked in multiple domains including finance, sociology, and neuroscience. With data science, and in this program, you can delve into any field you desire. And, if you're like me and want to learn as many disciplines as possible, you can do that too.

Q: What are you involved in outside of class?

I am currently building and marketing Sidequest and the Agent Service Index.

Sidequest is a social discovery app that lowers the threshold for doing spontaneous social activities. If you find yourself with free time and want to be social, instead of texting 20 people just to find two who are free, you can look on Sidequest to find a small group of people doing something fun at any time, or you can post your own activity, broadcasting it to your friends or strangers who you share a context with. This app is working and live at sidequestlocal.com and is on the Apple App Store and Google Play store under the name "Sidequest - Social Adventures."

The Agent Service Index (ASI) is infrastructure for AI agents. Currently, no AI agents can autonomously accomplish end-to-end tasks that require an external service. They require humans to make accounts and connect the agent to that account. We have to repeat this manual process for every external service. ASI is a search engine for AI agents that only returns services it can use autonomously. ASI enables you to make an account once and give your agent access to an entire ecosystem of services it can use to complete its tasks. With ASI, your agent could do complex tasks like build and validate a business idea off of only one prompt. What's exciting about this project is that it is a marketplace: Anyone can build a service meant for agents and register it with ASI so that other agents can discover it and benefit. A minimum viable product is live at agentserviceindex.com. I'm continuing to work on making ASI safer and more secure.

UVA Data Science msds residential student thomas blalock rock climing with observer to the left — Blalock enjoys rock climbing in his spare time.

Sam Kunitz-Levy and I founded the MSDS Startups Club, where we share ideas, bring in guest speakers, and teach each other concepts relevant to startups. I also love to rock climb, bowl, play piano, and play pickleball.

Q: What advice would you give to someone considering an MSDS?

Data science is empowering. It provides tools for you to understand almost anything with mathematical precision, enables you to build intelligent systems, and can serve as an insightful framework for viewing society. Take advantage of this abundance of opportunity by using data science to understand something interesting to you and build unique projects that inspire you. You will benefit greatly from the program if you carry data science with you outside of the classroom.