Until 2016, he was a research staff member at the Mathematical Sciences Department of IBM's T. J. Watson Research Center. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2010 from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His research focuses on developing better methods for safe, robust, and risk-averse reinforcement learning and their applications to domains that involve high-stakes decisions under uncertainty. Currently, Marek is involved with applications of robust reinforcement learning to controlling invasive species, pest monitoring and management in agriculture, and others.