Bio

I am directing the Statistical Machine Learning Lab at UCLA. My research is in machine learning, with a focus on developing and analyzing nonconvex optimization algorithms for machine learning to understand large-scale, dynamic, complex, and multi-modal data, and build the foundations of deep learning and reinforcement learning. Recently, I use AI to develop next-generation database management systems and empower discovery in scientific domains such as biology, medicine, chemistry, and public health. I received Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, NSF CAREER Award, Simons Berkeley Research Fellowship, among other industrial faculty research awards. I have published 150+ peer-reviewed papers on top machine learning venues such as JMLR, MLJ, COLT, ICML, NeurIPS, AISTATS, UAI. I also serve as an associate/section editor for Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research and PLOS One, area chair for ICML, NeurIPS, ICLR, AISTATS, UAI and AAAI, and senior program committee member for IJCAI and ACML.