The SDS Ph.D. in Statistics program is a four-year degree that focuses on training future researchers on the theory and methods of statistics. Major emphases are placed on probability models and modern computational statistical tools. Throughout the program, students are exposed to central ideas of both Bayesian and classical approaches to inference. The degree consists of more than 52 hours of coursework: 22 hours of required courses, 18 hours of research/electives and 12 or more hours of dissertation.
SDS Postdoctoral Fellows work with one or two faculty members while immersed in a vibrant and growing community of statisticians, biostatisticians, and data scientists at UT Austin.
Ph.D. Alumni
2025 / 2024 / 2023 / 2022 /2021 / 2020 / 2019 / 2018 / 2017
Postdoctoral Alumni
2025 / 2023 / 2022 / 2020 / 2017 / 2016 / 2014 / 2012
Ph.D. Alumni
2025
Fuheng Cui
Advisor: Stephen Walker
Dissertation: Bayesian Predictive Posterior Distributions
Rebecca Knowlton
Advisor: Layla Parast
Dissertation: Heterogeneous Surrogate Markers in Clinical Trials and Real-World Settings
Blake Moya
Advisor: Abhra Sarkar
Dissertation: Bayesian Hidden Markov Random Partition Fields for Local Inference on Graphs with Applications in Neuroimaging
Michael Schwob
Advisor: Mevin Hooten
Dissertation: Bayesian Hierarchical Models for Dependent Ecological Data
Angela Ting
Advisor: Antonio Linero
Dissertation: Bayesian Nonparametric Methods for Heterogeneous Treatment and Mediation Effect Estimation
2024
Brandon Carter
Advisor: Catherine Calder
Dissertation: Bayesian Spatial Models for Discrete Data: Methodological Advances with Applications in Urban Sociology
Placement: NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University (Department of Statistical Science)
Ciara Nugent
Advisor: Peter Mueller
Dissertation: A Decision Theoretic Approach to Combining Inference Across Data Sources with Applications to Subgroup Analysis in Clinical Trials
Xizewen Han
Advisor: Mingyuan Zhou
Dissertation: Classification and Regression Diffusion Models and Tree-Based Extensions
Rimli Sengupta
Advisor: Paul Rathouz
Dissertation: Semi-Parametric Generalized Linear Models in Novel Analytical Contexts
Shuying Wang
Advisor: Stephen Walker
Dissertation: Bayesian Inference for Stochastic Compartmental Models and Marginal Cox Process
Zhendong Wang
Advisor: Mingyuan Zhou
Dissertation: Enhancing Efficiency and Controllability in Generative Models for Reinforcement Learning and Robotics
Placement: Senior Researcher for the Microsoft GenAI Team
Huangjie Zheng
Advisor: Mingyuan Zhou
Dissertation: Implicit Distributional Matching at High Dimensionality
Placement: Research Scientist at Apple Machine Learning Research
2023
Jingjing Fan
Advisor: Abhra Sarkar
Dissertation: Bayesian Semiparametric Inference of Complex Longitudinal and Multiple Time Series Systems
Placement: Data Scientist at Theta
Korawat Tanwisuth
Advisor: Mingyuan Zhou
Dissertation: A Prototype-Oriented Framework for Deep Transfer Learning Applications
Placement: Software Engineer at Google
Travis Lilley (ABD)
Advisor: Paul Rathouz
Frank Rotiroti
Advisors: Carlos Carvalho and Stephen Walker
Dissertation: Topics in Computational Statistics, with Applications in Finance: A Dissertation in Two Parts
Mengjie Wang
Advisor: Stephen Walker
Dissertation: Objective Bootstrap Posterior Distributions
Shujian “Steve” Zhang
Advisor: Mingyuan Zhou
Dissertation: Probabilistic Language Models with Model Efficiency and Data Efficiency
2022
Preston Biro
Advisor: Stephen Walker
Dissertation: Statistically Driven Decision Making in Football through the use of Reinforcement Learning, Random Utility Models, and Parametric Modeling
Placement: Football Data Scientist for the Washington Commanders
Yanxin Li
Advisor: Stephen Walker
Dissertation: Latent Slice Sampling
Placement: Senior Data Scientist at Whole Foods Market
Qiaohui Lin
Advisors: Peter Mueller and Purna Sarkar
Dissertation: Inference and Uncertainty Characterization in Complex Structures
Placement: Data Scientist at Meta
Zhengqing "Vera" Liu
Advisor: Peter Mueller
Dissertation: Interpretable Random Structure for Non-Standard Data with Applications to Biomedical and Social Science Studies
Placement: Principal Associate at Capital One
Evan Ott
Advisor: Sinead Williamson
Dissertation: Probabilistic Neural Networks
Mauricio Garcia Tec
Advisors: James Scott and Cory Zigler
Dissertation: Spatial Applications of Markov Random Fields and Neural Networks for Spatio-temporal Denoising, Causal Inference, and Reinforcement Learning
Placement: Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University (Department of Biostatistics)
2021
Omar Chavez
Advisor: Sinead Williamson
Dissertation: Scalable and Causal Bayesian Inference
Placement: Senior Data Scientist at Eventellect
Xinjie Fan
Advisor: Mingyuan Zhou
Dissertation: Deep Neutral Networks with Contextual Probabilistic Units
Placement: Software Engineer at Nuro
Giorgio Paulon
Advisors: Abhra Sarkar and Peter Mueller
Dissertation: Bayesian Partition Models for Local Inference in Longitudinal and Survival Data
Placement: Statistical Scientist at Berry Consultants
Matteo Vestrucci
Advisor: Stephen G. Walker
Dissertation: Bayesian Sparse Selection using Hopfield Network, with Application to Alzheimer's Disease
Placement: Statistical Scientist at Berry Consultants
Yuguang Yue
Advisor: Mingyuan Zhou
Dissertation: Boosting Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithms with Deep Probability Models
Placement: Machine Learning Engineer at Twitter
2020
Su Chen
Advisor: Stephen G. Walker
Dissertation: Bayesian Variable Selection and Hypothesis Testing
Placement: Assistant Teaching Professor at Rice University's D2K Lab
Li (Kelly) Kang
Advisors: Paul Damien and Stephen G. Walker
Dissertation: On a Transform for Modelling Skewness
Placement: Data Scientist at Microsoft
Jennifer Starling
Advisor: James G. Scott
Dissertation: Bayesian Methods for Complex Data Structures, with Applications to Precision Medicine in Women's Healthcare
Placement: Statistician at Mathematica Policy Research
Spencer Woody
Advisors: Jared Murray and James G. Scott
Dissertation: Bayesian Approaches for Inference After Selection and Model Fitting
Placement: Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Texas at Austin (Department of Integrative Biology under Lauren Ancel Meyers)
Mingzhang Yin
Advisor: Mingyuan Zhou
Dissertation: Variational Methods with Dependence Structure
Placement: Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University (Data Science Institute, under David M. Blei and Simon Tavaré); Assistant Professor (Fall 2022) at the University of Florida Warrington College of Business
2019
Guy Cole
Advisor: Sinead Williamson
Dissertation: Relational Learning and Fairness
Placement: Sr. Data Scientist at Realtor.com
Maurice Diesendruck
Advisors: Sinead Williamson and Mingyuan Zhou
Dissertation: Distribution Distance Measures in Generative and Privacy Models
Placement: Data Scientist at Ojo Labs
Novin Ghaffari
Advisor: Stephen G. Walker
Dissertation: Optimal Transportation and Barycenter Problems via Convex Functions
Placement: Chief Intelligence and Analytics Officer at Nulixr Inc.
Carlos Tadeu Pagani Zanini
Advisors: Peter Müller and Mingyuan Zhou
Dissertation: Dependent mixtures and random partitions
Placement: Adjunct Professor, Universidade Federal do Rio De Janeiro, Department of Statistical Methods
2018
Bowei Yan
Advisor: Purnamrita Sarkar
Dissertation: Theoretical Analysis for convex and non-convex clustering algorithms
Placement: Quantitative Researcher at Jump Trading
Michael Zhang
Advisor: Sinead Williamson
Dissertation: Scalable Inference for Bayesian Non-parametrics
Placement: Assistant Professor (2021), Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Hong Kong. Previous Placement: Postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University
2017
Oscar Hernan Madrid Padilla
Advisor: James G. Scott
Dissertation: Constrained Estimation via the Fused Lasso and Some Generalizations
Placement: Assistant Professor, UCLA, Department of Statistics
Previous Placement: Postdoctoral fellow at the University of California–Berkeley
Tianjian Zhou
Advisor: Peter Müller
Dissertation: Bayesian Nonparametric Models for Biomedical Data Analysis
Placement: Assistant Professor (2020), Department of Statistics, Colorado State University.
Previous Placement: Postdoctoral Scholar at The University of Chicago; Postdoctoral fellow at the NorthShore University HealthSystem, Chicago
Postdoctoral Alumni
2025
Brandon Carter (2025)
Advisor: Catherine Calder
Placement: NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University (Department of Statistical Science)
2023
Giovanni Rebaudo (2020-2023)
Advisors: Abhra Sarkar and Peter Müller
Placement: Assistant Professor at University of Turin
Marcin Jurek (2020-2023)
Advisor: Catherine Calder and Cory Zigler
Placement: Assistant Professor at Southern Methodist University
Nathan Wikle (2021-2023)
Advisor: Cory Zigler
Placement: Assistant Professor at University of Iowa
2022
Jacob Terrance (2022)
Advisor: Catherine Calder
Placement: Health Equity Research Analyst at the Oregon Health Authority
Noirrit Chandra (2020-2022)
Advisors: Abhra Sarkar and Peter Müller
Placement: Assistant Professor (Summer 2022) at University of Texas at Dallas
2020
Robert Lunde (2018-2020)
Advisor: Purna Sarkar
Placement: Research fellow at the University of Michigan; Assistant Professor (Fall 2022) at Washington University in St. Louis
2017
Yang Ni (2016-2017)
Advisor: Peter Mueller
Placement: Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University
Zeynep Ertem Oktay (2016-2017)
Advisor: Lauren Meyers
Placement: Assistant Professor at Binghamton University
2016
Prithwish Bhaumik (2015-2016)
Advisor: Lizhen Lin
Placement: Data Scientist at Quantifind
Previous Placement: Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Notre Dame
Minwoo Chae (2015-2016)
Advisors: Lizhen Lin and Stephen Walker
Placement: Assistant Professor at Pohang University of Science and Technology
Previous Placement: Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University
Seunghwan Park (2015-2016)
Advisor: Mike Daniels
Placement: Assistant Professor at Kangwon National University
2014
Joseph Neeman (2013-2014)
Advisor: Sujay Sanghavi (courtesy appointments in SDS and Math)
Placement: Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin
Previous placement: Postdoctoral Researcher at Wireless Networking Communications Group
Yanxun Xu (2013-2014)
Advisor: Peter Mueller
Placement: Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University
2012
Piyush Rai (2012-2013)
Advisor: Pradeep Ravikumar
Placement: Associate Professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Previous placement: Research faculty at Duke University