I am a Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Connecticut (UConn). I earned my Ph.D. in Statistics along with a concurrent M.A. in Economics from Duke University in 2012, following an M.S. in Mathematics and Statistics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2008. I joined UConn in 2012 as an Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2019, and became a Full Professor in 2025.

 

My research centers on Bayesian statistical methodology and its applications to large-scale, complex data—especially problems involving time-varying variables, missing data, and constrained structures. My primary interests include latent variable models, nonparametric and semiparametric methods, and subgroup analysis. Much of my work is driven by interdisciplinary collaborations with researchers in academia and industry, with applications in areas such as accounting, ecology, education, engineering, and medicine.

 

For my previous work, I have been awarded Jeffrey’s Excellence Prize for Best Methodological Poster in 2013 Objective Bayes Conference. My interdisciplinary work published in PNAS received media coverage by several high profile national and international media outlets. As for my teaching, I have been awarded Excellence in Teaching Recognition by the Provost Office in the University of Connecticut for three times.  Moreover, I have been elected member of international statistical institute (ISI) since 2017.  In 2019, I am a recipient of National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (NSF CAREER) Award and in 2022, I was named as one of the mHealth Scholars for the NIH mHealth Training Institute.