I recently completed my Ph.D. in Computer Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I specialized in statistical machine learning and natural language processing. My advsior was Professor Jerry Zhu. During my five years as a graduate student, we published an introductory book on Semi-Supervised Learning and worked together on several projects in semi-supervised learning, natural language processing, Text-to-Picture Synthesis, and computational cognitive psychology. After depositing my dissertation entitled New Directions in Semi-Supervised Learning, I am moving to Baltimore, MD and will be working as Senior Scientist at Arcode, a young startup company in Bethesda, MD whose goal is to make using e-mail easier.

Recent Events

6/17: I successfully defended my dissertation entitled "New Directions in Semi-Supervised Learning". See my research page and list of publications for more details.

4/10: I got a job! I will be starting as Senior Scientist at Arcode Corporation in late July. Arcode is a young start-up located in Bethesda, MD, working in the e-mail and messaging space, and I can't wait to start.

9/09: I'm organizing a Non-parametric Bayesian Reading Group (with an emphasis on machine learning) this semester. Please contact me if you're interested in joining the group or volunteering to lead one of the discussions.

7/29/09: I officially became a dissertator.

7/23/09: I gave an invited talk ( slides here) at a SIGIR workshop about our NAACL 2007 paper about increasing diversity in ranking using absorbing random walks.

6/09: My book Introduction to Semi-Supervised Learning is now available!

6/09 I posted several new sets of slides and posters on the publications page.

Short Biography

I grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY and received a B.A. in Computer Science from Amherst College in 2003. After college, I worked for two years at Deitel & Associates, where I helped write, edit, and build code for introductory CS textbooks. From Fall 2005-Summer 2010, I was a graduate student in the wonderful city of Madison. After completing my Ph.D., I relocated to Baltimore and am working as Senior Scientist at Arcode, a Bethesda, MD-based startup company working to "fix e-mail."