I've known Lionel since high school, and can vouch for him if it's somehow helpful. Additional thoughts: He's good at math; he's new enough to AI alignment that having anyone local-to-him (e.g. at Cornell / in Ithaca) who wants to talk about this would probably help, so don't be shy or think you need much background; he cares about this stuff; he enjoys thinking and trying to get at truth, and I tend to find him fun to talk to.

Thanks all for responding! The meetup will be this Thursday, any other Ithaca locals DM for details!