I am consistently in search of highly motivated and strong PhD students, with plans to hire one or two annually. At the Department of Computer Science at UIC, all Ph.D. students are offered multi-year appointments, either as Research Assistants (RAs) or Teaching Assistants (TAs). However, it’s important to note that the RA positions are contingent upon my funding, which can fluctuate yearly.

To be considered for our program, your application will first be assessed by the admission committee to ensure it meets the admission requirements and aligns with the expected standards of our school. Subsequently, based on the research interests you indicate in your Statement of Purpose (SOP), your application will be directed to the relevant faculty members. If you wish for me to review your application, please mention my name in your SOP. After getting the applications, I will schedule an interview with the selected applicants and send my recommendation to the admission committee. The admission committee will make the final decision regarding admission.

If you’d like to assess your qualifications for joining my group before officially applying, feel free to email me. This email should provide a detailed overview of your qualifications. Please refrain from including vague summaries of my publications, as they often leave an unfavorable impression. Nonetheless, I highly suggest going through a few of my recent papers to gauge your interest in the topics and ensure you grasp the background.

In general, the primary foundation of our current projects is probabilistic machine learning, with a specific focus on deep generative models. Our work encompasses multimodal data modeling, scientific machine learning, text generation, and advancing spiking neural networks. I am also interested in building novel EdTech solutions based on large language models.

If you’re keen on joining my team, please ensure you meet the following criteria:

• A solid academic background in Computer Science
• Evidence of prior research experience in ML/deep learning
• Proficiency in a deep learning framework: PyTorch/Tensorflow/Jax
• Experience with large-scale models is a plus
• Prior experience and familiarity with deep generative models (specifically, VAEs, energy-based models, score-based models, and diffusion models) is a (big) plus

Please email me with the subject line “Prospective Ph.D. Applicant for Fall ‘24”. Attach your CV and, if possible, your Statement of Purpose (SOP), transcripts, and test scores. If your publications aren’t accessible online or haven’t been published yet, it would be beneficial to attach them. Even a preliminary draft can provide insight into your background. In the body of the email, provide at least two paragraphs detailing your qualifications and previous experiences in relation to the criteria mentioned above. I will only respond to applicants who detail their qualifications in line with the aforementioned criteria. Generic inquiries about Ph.D. positions may not receive a reply.

For Masters students

The applications for the Masters program will be decided entirely by the admission committee. Unfortunately, I do not have funding available for MS students. However, if you’re a Master’s student already enrolled at UIC and wish to collaborate with me on your thesis, please reach out via email. We can then arrange a meeting to discuss further.