Hi there! I’m a third year PhD student in the department of Statistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, working with Professor Kirthevasan Kandasamy. Prior to coming to UW-Madison, I earned my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mathematics and Statistics at Boston University and worked as a Data Scientist in the Consumer Insights and Analytics department at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

I’m also currently working as a Statistical Consultant with the Statistical Consulting Group at UW-Madison. I provide assistance to clients in a variety of fields such as Plant Pathology, Soil Science, Food Science, and Biochemistry, among others, on various aspects of the research process including, but not limited to, experimental design, data analysis and visualization, manuscript preparation, and responding to reviewer comments during the peer review process.

Research

My work primarily focuses on aligning the theory and design of machine learning models with practical incentives in the real world. I’m currently focusing on applications in sequential decision making, mechanism design, and multi-source learning. I’m always happy to “talk shop,” so if any of this interests you, or you want to chat about any other related topics, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Papers

• Balancing Performance and Costs in Best Arm Identification
  Michael O. Harding and Kirthevasan Kandasamy
  [arxiv]

Awards and Honors

• UW-Madison Statistics Department Summer 2025 Research Fellowship ($6000)
• UW-Madison L&S Advanced Achievement in Teaching Award Nominee
• UW-Madison L&S Early Excellence in Teaching Award Nominee
• Outstanding Performance as a TA for a Statistics Gateway Course ($500)
• Boston University CAS College Prize for Excellence in Mathematics and Statistics

Teaching

• Introduction to Mathematical Statistics (STAT 311) TA: Spring 2025
• Financial Statistics (STAT 461) TA: Fall 2023 and 2024
• Machine Learning (STAT 451) TA: Spring and Summer 2024
• Introductory Applied Statistics (STAT 324/371) TA: Fall 2022, Spring and Summer 2023