Apara Venkat
About me
I am a Data Scientist at Xbox, Microsoft. I graduated with a Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Washington in 2024. My dissertation, "Problems in Identification and Estimation: Algorithms for Pathogen, Ancestral, and Rashomon Analysis" was co-advised by Tyler McCormick and Ema Perkoviฤ.
Before UW, I received my B.S. in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado at Boulder in May 2020. I completed my undergraduate thesis, advised by Dan Larremore, on identifying effects of node covariates in ranking and choice models.
Non-academically, I am interested in music - both listening and playing. I also like to read. My most recent favorite fiction is The Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson. My most recent favorite non-fiction is Promised Land by Barack Obama. I enjoy playing a good video game once in a while and my all-time favorites are Uncharted, God of War, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Having spent four years in Boulder, I also tend to enjoy climbing, biking, and running.
Since my early undergrad days, I have been maintaining a blog where I reflect on science, math, the world, and life. Since my early grad school days, I have been maintaing a website called Normal Almost Nowhere where I dabble in creative writing, mostly consisting of introspective poetry.
News
- 14 Nov 2025 - ๐ New blog post on blinding lights
- 02 Jan 2025 - ๐ I wrote a retrospective reflecting on 2024 and things I'm looking forward to 2025!
- 07 Nov 2024 - โ๏ธ My creative writing blog Normal Almost Nowhere is now public
- 16 Sep 2024 - ๐ฎ I started my new position as a Data Scientist at Xbox, Microsoft!
- 05 Aug 2024 - ๐ I will give a talk on Rashomon models at JSM on August 7, 2024
- 15 Jul 2024 - ๐๏ธ New preprint on arXiv! Towards Complete Causal Explanation with Expert Knowledge
- 21 Jun 2024 - ๐งโ๐ I successfully defended my Ph.D. dissertation!
- 07 Jun 2024 - ๐ I gave a speech representing the graduating Ph.D. class at the Statistics Department's commencement ceremony!
- 23 May 2024 - ๐ I presented my work on Rashomon effect at UW's Three Minute Thesis Competition. [Bios]
- 15 May 2024 - ๐งโ๐ซ I will present a poster on Causal Discovery using Expert Knowledge at ACIC on May 15, 2024 [Poster + Notes]
- 01 Apr 2024 - ๐๏ธ New preprint on arXiv! Robustly estimating heterogeneity in factorial data using Rashomon Partitions
- 15 Mar 2024 - ๐ I will give a talk on "Feasible Contact Tracing" at the University of Illinois Chicago's Epidemiology and Biostatistics seminar! [Slides]
- 19 Jan 2024 - ๐งโ๐ซ I will present a poster on Rashomon models at UFL Statistics Winter Workshop (work with Tyler + Arun)! [Poster]
- 12 Dec 2023 - ๐๏ธ New preprint on bandits and contact tracing (work with Tyler + Jishnu)! [arXiv]
- 14 Oct 2023 - ๐๏ธ New paper from some consulting work about smartwatches and VO2! [PDF]
- 27 Sep 2023 - ๐ Entering Year 4 of my Ph.D. at UW!
- 26 Sep 2023 - ๐ I will give a talk on "Causal Discovery" at the 2023 Ph.D. Student Orientation (work with Ema) [Slides]
- 26 Jun 2023 - ๐ My undergraduate thesis is now available at CU Scholar
- 05 Jun 2023 - ๐ฎ I started my internship at Xbox as a data scientist.
- 18 May 2023 - ๐ Ph.D. Milestone 3/4 - I successfully passed my General Exam! Now, I am Ph.D. candidate
- 31 Jan 2023 - ๐ I will give a talk on "Contact tracing and mortal bandits" at the UW Statistics Student Seminar (work with Tyler + Jishnu)
- 01 Jan 2023 - ๐ The annual retrospective for 2022 is here.
- 21 Dec 2022 - ๐ I received my M.S. in Statistics! You may now refer to me as Master Venkat.
- 28 Sep 2022 - ๐ Entering Year 3 of my Ph.D. at UW.
- 08 Aug 2022 - ๐ I will present our work (+Tyler) on contact tracing at JSM 2022 in Washington D.C. [Slides]