Medha Agarwal

Medha Agarwal

Ph.D. Student in Statistics

University of Washington

About

I am a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Statistics at University of Washington advised by Prof. Zaid Harchaoui. I am currently working on flow-based generative models, optimal transport, and gradient flows with a great team of collaborators [1][2]. I did my undergraduate in Mathematics from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur with a minor in English literature. At IITK, I was advised by Prof. Dootika Vats. Our research involved developing methodology for output analysis in Markov chain Monte Carlo and importance sampling.

I have explored different topics in statistics through my graduate and undergraduate research spanning optimal transport, gradient flows, normalizing flows, sampling methods and numerical optimization. I have also had the opportunity to work with two remarkable collaborators - Prof. Jason Xu and Prof. Victor Elvira.

I am currently co-leading this interesting working group on normalizing flows. Apart from research in statistics, I am passionate about dancing and reading fiction. I spend my free time exploring coffeehouses in Seattle (hit me up for/with suggestions!).

Education
  • PhD in Statistics, 2021 - 2026

    University of Washington

  • BS in Mathematics and Scientific Computing, 2017 - 2021

    Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India