people

Current members

Rongqian Zhang (PhD candidate, 2021-present) Personal website/Google Scholar

I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Statistical Sciences at the University of Toronto, supervised by Jun Young Park. I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economical Statistics from the Renmin University of China and a Master’s Degree in Applied Statistics from the University of Michigan. My research interests are high-dimensional data, spatial statistics and neuroimaging data analysis.

Achievements

• Data Science Institute’s Doctoral Student Fellowship

• Student paper award (runner-up) in Statistical Methods in Imaging (SMI) Conference 2022

Yuan Tian (PhD candidate, 2021-present)

After studying Statistics at the Pennsylvania State University and the University of California, Santa Barbara, I joined the Statistical Genetics team at Ambry Genetics, a commercial genetic testing lab. There, I gained hands-on experience with real-world clinical and genetics data. To further build my expertise in Statistical Genetics and Biostatistics, I am drawn to learn more, striving to work with my supervisors, Prof. Park and Prof. Gronsbell, at the forefront of discovery and implementation in ways only available in academia.

Achievements

• STAGE trainee

• University of Toronto Arts and Science Recognition of Excellence Award

• Ontario Graduate Scholarship

Ruyi Pan (PhD candidate, 2022-present) Google Scholar

I’m a PhD Student in the Department of Statistical Sciences at the University of Toronto. My supervisors are Prof. Park, Prof. Reid, and Dr. Voineskos. My research interests are high-dimensional statistics and statistics theory. Now, I am focusing on neuroimaging data analysis. I previously completed MSc in statistics at the University of Toronto and BA in computer science at the University of Waterloo.

Achievements

• Student paper award (runner-up), ASA Statistics in Imaging section 2025

• Early Research Excellence Award, Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Toronto

• Multidisciplinary doctoral (MDoc) program trainee

• Andrews Academic Achievement Award, Department of Statistical Sciences

• University of Toronto Arts and Science Recognition of Excellence Award

David Veitch (PhD candidate, 2022-present) Personal website/Google Scholar

I am a PhD candidate in statistics at the University of Toronto co-supervised by Professor Jun Young Park and Professor Zhou Zhou. My research interests are in neuroimaging data analysis, and non-stationary time series. Prior to my current studies I obtained my MSc in Statistics at UofT, completed my undergraduate degree in Commerce at Queen’s University, and worked as a fixed-income trader at Bank of America. My PhD studies are generously supported by the Data Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto.

Achievements

• ENAR 2024 distinguished student paper award

• Data Science Institute’s Doctoral Student Fellowship

• Ontario Graduate Scholarship

• Andrews Academic Achievement Award, Department of Statistical Sciences

• Vector Scholarship in Artificial Intelligence

Liyan Wang (Undergraduate Researcher, 2024-2025)

Yinghao Li (Undergraduate Researcher, 2025)

Former members

Helena (Yunzhu) Li (Undergraduate Researcher, 2024)

Hainan Xu (Graduate RA, 2023-2024)

Linxi Chen (Undergraduate Researcher, 2022)

Zhengdan Li (Undergraduate Researcher, 2022)

Xiaoli Yang (Undergraduate RA, 2021)