I am looking for motivated graduate and undergraduate students who have strong interest in the area of data mining and machine learning for human-centered applications, Machine learning for human-centered applications, including reinforcement learning, deep learning, and sequence modeling in recommender systems and learning analytics. For more information on my research, take a look at my research projects and PersAI Lab.

Paid Undergraduate Research Positions

If you are a motivated undergraduate student, who is interested in data mining and machine learning research, this is a great learning opportunity for you to gain research experience and apply your problem-solving skills. You will be involved in various educational, research, and technical learning opportunities as part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation. You may start working on the project, immediately after being approved. For a full-time paid assistantship, this project provides a weekly stipend plus housing and meal support.

Candidates must:

• Be undergraduate students.
• Have strong programming and problem-solving skills. A solid foundation in data structures and algorithms, as well as programming experience in Python and/or Java is expected.
• Be U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, or permanent residents of the United States.

Familiarity and experience with the following will be a plus:

• Strong programming and problem-solving skills. Programming experience in one of Python, Matlab, or R with strong knowledge of data structures.
• A strong foundation in statistics and linear algebra concepts.
• Having prior knowledge (by taking courses or doing projects) in Machine Learning, Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence, Information Retrieval, Text Mining, Natural Language Processing, or Social Network Analysis is a plus.

If you are interested, send me an email with the subject “<FirstName, LastName>, Undergraduate Research Assistant Application” and the following materials attached:

• Resume/CV: include your education details, technical preparations, and relevant projects.
• Unofficial transcripts from all colleges/universities attended.
• A brief statement describing why you are interested in this position.

Students from underrepresented groups (including but not limited to female students and racial/ethnic minorities) are highly encouraged to apply.

Funded Graduate Positions

If you are interested in joining my lab and have the below background, email me

• your CV,
• all of your (unofficial) transcripts, and
• TOEFL/GRE test scores.

Admitted students will be enrolled in the doctoral program in the Department of Computer Science at University at Albany - SUNY, and will work in the PersAI Lab.

Preferable Background for Graduate Students: The candidates should demonstrate strong interests and relevant training/skills including:

• Completed B.S./M.S. degree(s) in one of the related disciplines: Computer Science/Engineering, Mathematics, Applied Statistics, Control Electrical Engineering, Information Technology.
• Mathematics/statistics background, familiar with stochastic processes, linear algebra, or optimization
• Previous coursework and/or practical experience in machine learning, data mining, deep learning, or reinforcement learning
• Experience with machine learning frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, MXNet) or computational environments (R, Matlab); programming skills in scripting languages (Python, Perl, Javascript, etc.) and/or in major languages (Java, C, C++);
• Good writing and spoken English skills

Current UAlbany Students

If you are already a UAlbany student, interested in any of the above research topics and having the above preferable background, send me an email to meet and discuss your interests. Also include your CV, transcripts, and test scores in your email.