SDS has enrolled 43 PhD students since 2013, and runs a departmental postdoc program.
The SDS PhD 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 52+ hours of coursework: 22 hours of required courses, 18 hours of research/electives, 12+ 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 the University.
2020 / 2019 / 2018 / 2017
2020 / 2019 / 2018 / 2017 / 2016 / 2015 / 2014 / 2013 / 2012
PHD ALUMNI
2020 / 2019 / 2018 / 2017
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: Microsoft Data Scientist Intern
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
Advisor: 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)
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: ---
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. Previously: 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
(prior to fall 2019, postdoctoral fellow at the University of California–Berkeley)
Tianjian Zhou
Advisor: Peter Müller
Dissertation: Bayesian Nonparametric Models for Biomedical Data Analysis
Placement: Postdoctoral Scholar at The University of Chicago (prior to fall 2018, postdoctoral fellow at the NorthShore University HealthSystem, Chicago)
POSTDOC ALUMNI
2020 / 2019 / 2018 / 2017 / 2016 / 2015 / 2014 / 2013 / 2012
2020
Robert Lunde
Advisor: Purna Sarkar
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2019
Robert Lunde
Advisor: Purna Sarkar
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2018
Robert Lunde
Advisor: Purna Sarkar
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2017
Yang Ni
Advisor: Peter Mueller
Zeynep Ertem Oktay
Advisor: Lauren Meyers
2016
Prithwish Bhaumik
Advisor: Lizhen Lin
Minwoo Chae
Advisor: Lizhen Lin and Stephen Walker
Yang Ni
Advisor: Peter Mueller
Zeynep Ertem Oktay
Advisor: Lauren Meyers
Seunghwan Park
Advisor: Mike Daniels
2015
Prithwish Bhaumik
Advisor: Lizhen Lin
Minwoo Chae
Advisor: Stephen Walker and Lizhen Lin
Seunghwan Park
Advisor: Mike Daniels
2014
Joseph Neeman
Advisor: Sujay Sanghavi (courtesy appointments in SDS and Math)
Yanxun Xu
Advisor: Peter Mueller
2013
Joseph Neeman
Advisor: Sujay Sanghavi (courtesy appointments in SDS and Math)
Yanxun Xu
Advisor: Peter Mueller
2012
Piyush Rai
Advisor: Pradeep Ravikumar
