About me

Outside of research I read a lot of pure mathematics: differentiable manifolds, Riemannian geometry, Lie groups, commutative algebra, algebraic geometry. I do not expect to become an expert in any of these areas. I just like sitting with the ideas until they start to feel familiar. von Neumann’s line still seems right to me: in mathematics you do not understand things; you get used to them.

That habit is also why I work on machine learning theory. I am more interested in methods that rest on a clear argument than in methods that only work in practice for now. The gap between theory and practice does not make the math less useful. It is usually the reason I pick up a problem.

I hope I can keep that curiosity, and stay a kind person, while working on questions I find interesting.

Three things I am proud of

• At Tsinghua I led the Go/Weiqi team to a Ma Yuehan Cup (马约翰杯) team championship.
• I volunteered as an Olympic Family Assistant (OFA) / Paralympic Family Assistant (PFA) at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• I once rode a bicycle across San Jose on my own.

What I believe

Knowledge should be shared.