I am always looking for motivated and curious students and/or scholars. Before you get in touch with me, I recommend that you take the time to read this page in its entirety. I spell out my advising philosophy and expectations. If after reading this page, you believe you are a good fit for my lab, then please do send me an email explaining your educational training, interests and with your CV. Currently, I’m looking to hire a graduate student for a project that is focused on developing machine learning models to forecast infectious disease outbreaks. If you are a postdoctoral scholar, there are a few fellowship applications you can submit to work with me. Please get in touch with me and I will send you the list of opportunities. International students and scholars are very welcome to email me ! I routinely maintain a list of funding opportunities that international candidates are eligible for.

What you should know about me

I am a very passionate focused scientific researcher who believes in rigorous science but with diversity of disciplinary approaches. I also strongly believe in encouraging the same passion and rigor in the next generation of young scholars. The future of science lies in these two traits: rigor and diversity of approaches. I strive for this everyday and hope to train the next generation of young scholars in similar methods.  

What you can expect from me

I’m always interested. So, you can expect me to be engaged in your work. I lead by example. So, I will never ask you to do something that I don’t. For instance, I read a lot of papers and attend seminars regularly which I also expect from you. You are welcome to raise any concern(s) with me. I recognize that students have a wide range of concerns and some of you may have unique situations I haven’t dealt with before. I’m always open to figuring out challenges together. Finally, you can expect me to teach you some of my quantitative and programming skillsets. I’m here to be a teacher and it is my hope that I leave you with some new skills that you can use in your future endeavors.

What I expect from you

I expect you to be motivated. A graduate degree is for a student who loves learning and who wants to explore the process of independent research. Whether you ultimately choose a career path in research or not is upto you. But for the time you spend with me, you will need to develop independence in research and inquiry. The first step to this independence is self-motivation, i.e. taking an interest to do well at your work.

The next step is to take initiative and challenge yourself. I will occasionally ask you to think about difficult problems and come back with a solution. The point is to push you out of your comfort zone in a safe environment so you ultimately learn to find answers on your own in the real world. Finding solutions to problems is not always a perfect process. I certainly find this to be true for me even after so many years in academia. But once you start taking initiative and trying methods that are outside your comfort zone, you will be amazed at how quickly you advance! Its not so much that you always need to get the answers ‘right’, its more about teaching you to discern which paths are worth pursuing and which ones aren’t. I still use the process of trial-and-error in my own journey and experiment with what is my ‘comfort zone’. I have found that taking calculated risks is one of the best predictors of success in life. So, I ask that you put in the work and take initiative (maybe even take calculated risks) in your research time with me.

Communication is very important. I will be able to help you more easily if you are direct and honest with me. The more open and clear our communication is, the faster I will understand you, the quicker you will finish your degree with me!