PhD students

Priority for PhD advising is given to students who have strong interest in one or more of the following areas: (i) high-dimensional data and scalable inference, (ii) Bayesian statistics, or (iii) deep learning. Strong programming skills and solid training in mathematical analysis, linear/matrix algebra, and numerical optimization or Bayesian computation (e.g. MCMC) are also very helpful. However, potential advisees who are highly self-motivated and willing to independently develop the necessary mathematical foundation and coding skills will be considered. Please have a look at my research to get an idea of what my PhD advisees work on.

I am also happy to collaborate with other graduate students who are not my PhD advisees. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any research ideas.

If you are interested in applying to the Statistics PhD program at USC but are not yet enrolled there as a student, please visit the department webpage for information about applying. Note that PhD students are admitted by the department’s Graduate Admissions Committee — not by myself or individual faculty. I am also unable to provide specific feedback on anyone’s application or recommend PhD applicants whom I do not know for admission.

Undergraduate and Masters students

Feel free to reach out to me about research opportunities. Priority is given to students with whom I have interacted before through courses or other opportunities. You must have taken at the minimum STAT 511-512 and MATH 344 or MATH 544 (or their equivalent at another institution) to work with me. Students who have experience with R or Python are preferred.

Current group members and alumni