About

I’m a statistician, technologist, and open-source developer with a passion for making advanced tools more accessible and impactful. I earned my PhD in Statistics from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2013, with a focus on applied machine learning.

Over the past decade, I’ve worked at the intersection of data science, software engineering, and systems thinking—building models, dashboards, and infrastructure that translate data and cutting-edge research into real-world applications. My experience spans academia and industry, including roles at Tsinghua University, IBM, and my current venture, cornball.ai, where I develop AI-powered tools for creative expression and automation.

As an open-source contributor, I’ve authored and contributed to several R packages on CRAN and GitHub, including tinyspotifyr, tuber, and most recently diffuseR, an R-native implementation of Hugging Face’s diffusers library for generative AI.

I enjoy sharing what I learn through blog posts, tutorials, and conference talks, with the goal of empowering others to leverage AI and data science in their work. I’ve been an organizer of the Chicago R User Group for nearly a decade and regularly mentor aspiring data scientists and developers.

As a sixth-generation Chicagoan, I’m passionate about building the region’s tech community and fostering greater diversity in STEM. My work focuses on applied AI, education, and building systems that make everyday life a little smarter, more expressive, and more fun.