Home/Research

Questions first.
Methods in their service.

Academic research: my PhD work at HKU now, and the research groups I trained in before it. Systems and evaluations I build on my own are on the Projects page.

Now.

PhD research · The University of Hong Kong

Causal inference

Health data, mediation and time.

Dora Y. Zhang's group, HKU · China Family Panel Studies · in progress

Question: Does socioeconomic deprivation lead to depression through physical health, or do the two simply travel together?
Method: Multi-wave mediation, with between-person and within-person designs kept apart and the time ordering written down first.
Evidence: A study design and a methods write-up in progress.
Current limit: No effect estimates are published until identification and sensitivity analyses are final.

Note: a mediation question needs a timeline →

CFPS study design over four survey waves, conceptual.

CFPS · study design, conceptual

Earlier research.

The full path →

Duke University · May – Dec 2024

Generative models for microbiome data

What does a generated sample preserve of the data it imitates?

In Li Ma's research group, I studied generative models for microbiome data and evaluated generated samples through bioinformatics analyses on large datasets.

Collaborative research. Schematic, not data.

UC Berkeley

Optimization under uncertainty

How can risk-aware problems be solved when they are not convex?

In Ying Cui's research group, I worked on a semismooth Newton approach to risk-aware, nonconvex optimization and compared its computational behaviour with other solvers.

Collaborative research. Schematic, not data.

Fudan University · Jun – Sep 2023

Deep learning price forecasts

Do deep learning price forecasts hold up in a portfolio backtest?

In Weiping Zhang's research group, we studied deep learning price forecasts and evaluated them through an A-share backtest with monthly portfolio rebalancing.

Group project. Schematic, not data.

Nankai University · Nov 2022 – Apr 2023

Active topological glass

How does active glass behave under ellipsoidal confinement?

In Yao Li's research group, I used molecular dynamics simulation to study active topological glass under ellipsoidal confinement, and presented the work at the 21st National Condensed Matter Theory and Statistical Physics Conference.

Undergraduate research. Schematic, not data.

Questions first.Methods in their service.