Current Members
Shane Sacco
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, UConn School of Medicine
Postdoctoral Research Associate (2022-2024)
Shane received his PhD in Health Promotion Sciences and BA in Psychology from the University of Connecticut, as well as his MA in Psychology from Central Connecticut State University. Since 2008, Shane has filled positions across most to all aspects of grant-funded social sciences research. He has served as full-time data manager and analyst for variously-focused teams/projects, resulting in a still continuing stream of publications. Since 2016, Shane has developed and focused his work upon applied statistics, in particular, non-linear interaction testing and machine learning. Upon receiving his PhD, he joined Dr. Chen's team as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, aiming to advance the field of suicide prediction by utilizing data fusion and machine learning fundamentals.
Xiaohui Yin
PhD Student
Xin Yang
PhD Student
Jing Wang
PhD Student
Jiadong Fang
PhD Student
Jun (Bruce) Jin
PhD Student
Yeming Pan
PhD Student
Past Members
Boyang Tang, PhD, 2023
FDA
Dr. Boyang Tang got his Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Connecticut in 2023 under the direction of Dr. Kun Chen. His thesis topic was "Stagewise Majorization Minimization Algorithms for Regularized Learning with Applications."
Zhongmao Liu, PhD, 2023
FDA
Dr. Zhongmao Liu got her Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Connecticut in 2023 under the direction of Dr. Kun Chen. Her thesis topic was "Pursuing Sources of Heterogeneity in Microbiome Community Structure."
Yan Li, PhD, 2021
Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Auburn University
Dr. Yan Li got his Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Connecticut in 2021 under the direction of Dr. Kun Chen and Dr. Jun Yan, where his thesis topic was "Amalgamation-Based Statistical Learning for Compositional Data." He was a Postdoctoral Fellow under the guidance of Dr. Gen Li at the Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, from 2021 to 2023.
Zhe Sun, PhD, 2021
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biostatistics, Yale University
Dr. Zhe Sun got her Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Connecticut in 2021 under the direction of Dr. Kun Chen, where her thesis topic was "On Statistical Modeling of Longitudinal Compositional Data with Applications in a Preterm Infant Study."
Biju Wang, PhD, 2021
Senior Biostatistician, Johnson & Johnson
Dr. Biju Wang got his Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Connecticut in 2020 under the direction of Dr. Kun Chen, where his thesis topic was "On Targeted Integrative Learning via Distance Segmented Regression."
Wanwan Xu, PhD, 2021
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biostatistics, Yale University
Dr. Wanwan Xu got her Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Connecticut in 2021 under the direction of Dr. Kun Chen, where her thesis topic was "Topics on Statistical Data Fusion with Public Health Applications."
Xiaokang Liu, PhD, 2020
Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics, University of Missouri, 2023-
Dr. Xiaokang Liu got her Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Connecticut in 2020 under the direction of Dr. Kun Chen, where her thesis topic was "Integrative Multivariate Learning via Composite Low-Rank Decompositions." She was a Postdoctoral Fellow under the guidance of Dr. Yong Chen at the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania, from 2020 to 2023.
Wenjie Wang, PhD, 2019
Research Scientist, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Group, Eli Lilly, 2019-
Dr. Wenjie Wang got his Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Connecticut in 2019 under the direction of Dr. Kun Chen and Dr. Jun Yan, where his thesis topic was "Integrative Survival Analysis with Application to Suicide Risk."
Chongliang (Jason) Luo, PhD, 2017
Assistant Professor, Washington University in St. Louis, 2021-
https://chongliang-luo.github.io/
Dr. Chongliang Luo's research focuses on statistical methodology for data integration, distributed statistical learning, meta-analysis, dimension reduction, and variable selection. Chongliang also has a broad interest in collaborative data analyses, including opioid use and mental health outcomes, pharmacovigilance, and neurological study. He got his Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Connecticut in 2017 under the direction of Dr. Kun Chen and Dr. Dipak Dey, where his thesis topic was "On Integrative Reduced-Rank Models and Applications." He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at UConn Health Center with Dr. Rob Aseltine and Dr. Kun Chen from 2017 to 2018 and a Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Yong Chen at the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania from 2018 to 2021.
Aditya Mishra, PhD, 2017
Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics, University of Georgia, 2023-
Dr. Aditya Mishra joined the Simons Foundation in 2017 as Flatiron Research Fellow. He is developing statistical methods and software with applications to microbial data. Aditya obtained his Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Connecticut in 2017 under the direction of Dr. Kun Chen and Dr. Dipak Dey, where his thesis topic was "On Sequential Estimation of Multivariate Associations." He was Flatiron Research Fellow at Flatiron Institute from 2017 to 2021 and a Computational Scientist at MD Anderson from 2021 to 2023.
Gregory Vaughan, PhD, 2017
Associate Professor, Mathematical Sciences, Bentley University, 2023-
https://faculty.bentley.edu/details.asp?uname=gvaughan
Dr. Vaughan develops methods for tackling high-dimension supervised learning problems where the number of variables makes traditional techniques intractable. He got his Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Connecticut in 2017 under the direction of Dr. Jun Yan and Dr. Kun Chen, where his thesis topic was "Stagewise Estimating Equations."
Chun Yu, PhD, 2014
Associate Professor, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Jiangxi, China
Dr. Chun Yu obtained his Ph.D. in Statistics from Kansas State University in 2014 under the direction of Dr. Kun Chen and Dr. Weixin Yao, where his thesis topic was "Robust Mixture Modeling."
Xiuqin Bai, PhD, 2013
Associate Professor (Teaching), Department of Statistics, Kansas State University, 2023-
Research Interests: Mixture Model, Robust Regression, and Statistical Consulting for Data Analysis
Dr. Xiuqin Bai obtained her Ph.D. in Statistics from Kansas State University in 2013 under the direction of Dr. Kun Chen and Dr. Weixin Yao, where her thesis topic was "Robust Mixture Regression Models." She was on the faculty of the Department of Mathematics at Eastern Washington University from 2013 to 2023.