Executive Director, IT Services · UC San Diego

Technology leadership at UC San Diego, and the apps I build outside it.

By day I’m the Executive Director of IT Services at UC San Diego, where my teams support infrastructure, data, campus services, and AI. Nights and weekends I design and ship my own products.

Recent talks: EDUCAUSE · ASU+GSV · UC AI Council

Brett Pollak on the UC San Diego campus
Current focus · updated October 25, 2026 · see /now

TritonAI at UC San Diego

tritonai.ucsd.edu ↗

My work in AI centers on helping build and support TritonAI with colleagues across campus. New tools have to fit the way people actually work, with support that lasts beyond the pilot.

  1. 01 · AskProduction

    TritonGPT

    AI assistants for students, faculty, and staff to work with documents, ask campus questions, and get help with everyday tasks.

    Explore TritonGPT →
  2. 02 · EmbedProduction

    TritonAI API Gateway

    One API connects campus applications and workflows to approved UC-hosted and cloud models, with shared access and usage controls.

    Explore the API program ↗ (opens in a new tab)
  3. 03 · AutomateSupported

    TritonAI Harness

    A desktop agent workspace for working with files, code, and connected campus services under human supervision.

    Explore TritonAI Harness ↗ (opens in a new tab)
All 22 projects →

Nights and weekends I build independent mobile apps, campus prototypes, and automated personal agent systems.

What I publish

Two newsletters: a daily AI briefing for people who run technology in higher education, and a Monday update on UC San Diego’s own AI tools and programs.

Both are produced with an agent I built and run on-premises. How it works →

Talks on AI in higher education

I speak to institutional leaders, IT conferences, and campus communities on moving AI from experimental pilots to production infrastructure, governed agent workflows, and citizen developer models.

  1. 01Institutional AI: From Pilot to ServiceArchitecture, governance, and on-premises hosting at university scale
  2. 02Agentic AI Workflows in Higher EdSupervised agents, administrative bottlenecks, and guardrails
  3. 03The Citizen Developer ProgramEmpowering campus staff with governed APIs and compute credits
Speaking topics & booking →

Writing & Press

All 58 appearances →