Eric C.

Chi

Rice University Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering Houston, Texas 77005 URL: www.ericchi.com Email: echi@rice.edu or eric.c.chi@gmail.com

Research Interests
Optimization, statistical learning, high dimensional data analysis, numerical linear and multilinear algebra, tensor decompositions, robust estimation, data mining, applications to bioinformatics and neuroimaging

Current Appointment
Postdoctoral Research Associate (July 2013 - Present), Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University Mentor: Richard G. Baraniuk

Education
2007 - 2011 2005 - 2007 1999 - 2002 1995 - 1999 Ph.D. & M.A., Statistics, Rice University, Houston, Texas Thesis Advisor: David W. Scott Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas Completed two years of didactic and clinical training in MD/PhD program M.S., Electrical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley Minor areas: Statistics, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research B.A., Physics, Summa Cum Laude, Rice University, Houston, Texas

Professional Experience
Postdoctoral Scholar (September 2011 - July 2013), Dept. of Human Genetics, UCLA Mentor: Kenneth L. Lange Developed optimization algorithms for statistical inference of high dimensional data, with applications in genetics and medical imaging CSGF Intern (Summers 2010, 2011), Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California Mentor: Tamara G. Kolda Developed tensor factorization algorithms for sparse count data and tensor factorizations that accommodate non-Gaussian errors CSGF Intern (Summer 2009), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, Berkeley, California Mentors: Paul Spellman & Elizabeth Purdom (UC Berkeley) Characterized measurement artifacts in Helicos mRNA single molecular sequencing technology Graduate Student Researcher (2007-2011), Department of Statistics, Rice University, Houston, Texas Advisor: David W. Scott

Eric C. Chi

Developed and characterized algorithms for tting robust sparse logistic regression models Summer Intern (Summer 2008), Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, Department of Epidemiology, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas Mentors: Kim Anh Do & Christopher Amos Compared statistical methods to detect gene-behavior interactions for a lung cancer case control study Research Support (2004-2005), Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, California Developed visualization and analysis tools for data collected by the IMAGE FUV satellite and compared complementary satellite proton drift data against proposed drift models Graduate Student Researcher (2000-2004), Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley Advisor: Jean C. Walrand Developed and characterized resource sharing schemes in communication networks by analysis and simulation Research Intern (Summer 1998), Shell Oil E&P Bellaire Technology Center, Houston, Texas Mentor: John Parrish Implemented signal processing algorithm to remove echoes from marine seismic data Student Researcher (Summer 1996), U.T. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas Mentor: Sharon L. Thompson Experimentally determined optimal geometric parameters for real-time optical detection of laser induced heatlesion

Research
Journal Articles
E. C. Chi, H. Zhou, and K. Lange, Distance majorization and its applications, Mathematical Programming Series A, in press, DOI:10.1007/s10107-013-0697-1 K. Lange, E. C. Chi, and H. Zhou, A brief survey of modern optimization for statisticians, International Statistical Review (with discussion), in press. E. C. Chi and D. W. Scott, Robust parametric classication and variable selection by a minimum distance criterion, Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, in press, DOI:10.1080/10618600.2012.737296 E. C. Chi and K. Lange, A look at the generalized Heron problem through the lens of majorizationminimization, The American Mathematical Monthly, in press, (preprint available at arXiv:1203.0578) E. C. Chi, H. Zhou, G. K. Chen, D. Ortega Del Vecchyo, and K. Lange, Genotype imputation via matrix completion, Genome Research, 23: 509-518, 2013, DOI:10.1101/gr.145821.112 E. C. Chi and T. G. Kolda, On tensors, sparsity, and nonnegative factorizations, SIAM Journal of Matrix Analysis and Applications, 33(4):1272-1299, 2012, DOI:10.1137/110859063 E. C. Chi and S. B. Mende, M.-C. Fok, and G. D. Reeves, Proton auroral intensications and injections at synchronous altitude. Geophysical Research Letters, 33(6), 2006, DOI:10.1029/2005GL024656 R. Gupta, E. Chi, and J. Walrand, Different algorithms for normal and protection paths, Journal of Network and Systems Management, 13(1):13-33, 2005, DOI:10.1007/s10922-005-1845-6

Eric C. Chi

E. Chi, M. Fu, and J. Walrand, Proactive resource provisioning, Computer Communications, 27(12):11741182, 2004, DOI:10.1016/j.comcom.2004.02.019

Refereed Conference Articles

E. C. Chi, G. I. Allen, H. Zhou, O. Kohannim, K. Lange, P. M. Thompson, Imaging genetics via sparse canonical correlation analysis, in Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), IEEE 10th International Symposium on, San Francisco, California 2013, DOI:10.1109/ISBI.2013.6556581 R. Gupta, E. Chi, and J. Walrand, Sharing normal bandwidth during a failure, Proceedings Seventh INFORMS Telecommunications Conference, Boca Raton, Florida 2004 R. Gupta, E. Chi, and J. Walrand, Different algorithms for normal and protection paths, Proceedings DRCN, Banff Canada, 2004, DOI:10.1109/DRCN.2003.1275356 E. Chi, M. Fu, and J. Walrand, Proactive resource provisioning for Voice over IP, Proceedings SPECTS, Montreal Canada, 2003 S. L. Thomsen, B. Baldwin, E. Chi, J. Ellard, J. A. Schwartz, Histopathology of laser skin resurfacing, Proceedings of SPIE Vol 2970, Lasers in Surgery: Advanced Characterization, Therapeutics, and Systems VII, 287, 1997, DOI:10.1117/12.275056

Manuscripts under Review

E. C. Chi and K. Lange, Stable Estimation of a Covariance Matrix Guided by Nuclear Norm Penalties (in revision, preprint available at arXiv:1305.3312) E. C. Chi, and K. Lange, Splitting methods for convex clustering (in revision, preprint available at arXiv:1304.0499)

Preprints
E. C. Chi and K. Lange, Techniques for solving Sudoku puzzles, (arXiv:1203.2295)

Unrefereed Manuscripts
E. C. Chi and T. G. Kolda, Making tensor factorizations robust to non-Gaussian noise, Technical Report Number SAND2011-1877, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM and Livermore, CA, March 2011 (available at SAND2011-1877). E. C. Chi and T. G. Kolda, Making tensor factorizations robust to non-Gaussian noise, NIPS Workshop on Tensors, Kernels, and Machine Learning, Whistler, BC, Canada, December 2010 (arXiv:1010.3043)

Ph.D. Dissertation
E. C. Chi, Parametric Classication and Variable Selection by the Minimum Integrated Squared Error Criterion, Ph.D. Thesis, Rice University, 2011

Eric C. Chi

Grants and Fellowships

Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (2008-2011) Provided full tuition, fees, and living stipend as well as three paid internships at DOE national laboratories R25 Cancer Prevention Fellowship (2008) Provided living stipend for summer internship at MD Anderson Cancer Center Jack C. Pollard Graduate Fellowship in Engineering (2007) Provided full tuition, fees, and living stipend for rst year of graduate study at Rice University National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (1999-2002) Provided full tuition, fees, and living stipend for rst three years of graduate study at UC Berkeley

Honors and Awards

U.S. delegate to 61st Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates and Students, 2011 Larus Award for best student oral presentation at AAAS SWARM meeting, 2010 Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award at UC Berkeley for EECS 126 (Probability and Random Processes), 2001 Inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, 1999 Inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma (National Physics Honors Society), 1998 Bonner Book Award Recipient (Rice Physics Department), given to the most outstanding sophomore, junior, senior physics student, 1997, 1998, 1999 Xerox Technical Minority Scholarship, 1997

Conference and Workshop Presentations

Joint Statistical Meetings, The Intersection of Tensor Analysis and Statistics," Montral, Canada, August 3-August 8, 2013 (Invited Session Speaker) International Symposium on BIOMEDICAL IMAGING: From Nano to Macro, Classication I," San Francisco, California, April 7-11, 2013 (Presented Accepted Paper) Interface Symposium, JCGS Highlights," Orange, California, April 4-6, 2013 (Invited Session Speaker) Joint Statistical Meetings, Multiway World: Modern Data Analysis with Tensor Decompositions," San Diego, California, July 30-August 4, 2012 (Invited Session Speaker) Interface Symposium, Tensor Decompositions and their Applications," Houston, Texas, May 16-18, 2012 (Invited Session Speaker) Joint Statistical Meetings, Late Breaking Session on Heritage Health Prize, Miami, Florida, July 30August 4, 2011 (Invited Session Speaker) Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship Annual Conference, Washington, DC, July 21-23, 2011 (Speaker) NIPS workshop on Tensors, Kernels, and Machine Learning, Vancouver, B.C. December 10, 2010 (Presented Accepted Paper)

Eric C. Chi

Joint Statistical Meetings, Vancouver, B.C. July 21-August 5, 2010 (Contributed Session Speaker) Interface Symposium, Robust Methods in Regression, Seattle, Washington, June 16-19, 2010, (Invited Session Speaker) AAAS SWARM Meeting, Houston, Texas, April 8-10, 2010 (Contributed Session Speaker) Cancer Prevention Trainee Brown Bag Seminar, Houston, Texas, September 2, 2008 (Speaker) Design of Reliable Communication Networks, Banff, Alberta, Canada, October 19-22, 2003 (Presented Accepted Paper) International Symposium on Performance Evaluation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems, Montreal, Canada, July 20-24, 2003 (Presented Accepted Paper)

Posters
American Society of Human Genetics Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California, November 6-10, 2012 (Accepted Poster) AAAS Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, February 17-21, 2011 (Invited Poster) Baylor College of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program Symposium, Houston, Texas, March 26-27, 2010 Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship Annual Conference, Washington, DC, June 22-24, 2010 Workshop on High-dimensional Inference Complex Data, Groningen, The Netherlands, November 23-25, 2009 (Accepted Poster) Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship Annual Conference, Washington, DC, July 13-16, 2009

Invited Seminars
Department of Statistics, Rice University, (Upcoming) November 4, 2013 Department of Statistics, Texas A&M, (Upcoming) October 18, 2013 Department of Biostatistics, University of Southern California, October 25, 2012 Department of Human Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, October 8, 2012 Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California, August 8, 2012 Department of Statistics, Rice University, Houston, Texas, March 7, 2011 Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California, December 17, 2009

Software
R package cvxclustr for performing convex clustering (available on CRAN) Contributed code for CP-Alternating Poisson Regression algorithm to the Tensor Toolbox (MATLAB) Mendel-Impute algorithm for genotype imputation (MATLAB)

Eric C. Chi

Teaching
Guest Lecturer, Optimization Methods in Biology (UCLA - BIOMATH 210), 2011 Graduate survey course on theory and numerical methods for discrete and continuous optimization, with applications from genetics, medical imaging, pharmacokinetics, and statistics. Three lectures. Teaching Assistant, Applied Stochastic Processes (Rice - STAT 552), 2008 Graduate course on the theory of some of the most frequently used stochastic processes in application; discrete and continuous time, Markov chains, Poisson and renewal processes, and Brownian motion. Responsibilities included planning and giving discussion sessions; writing solutions and grading homework. Teaching Assistant, Probability and Statistics (Rice - STAT 310), 2007 Undergraduate course on probability and statistics. Responsibilities included assisting with discussion sessions and grading homeworks and exams. Volunteer Instructor, Pre-Algebra (San Quentin State Prison), 2003 Responsibilities included lesson planning, giving biweekly lectures, and assisting with homework. Teaching Assistant, Probability and Random Processes (UC Berkeley - EECS 126), 2001 Undergraduate course on probability and random processes. Responsibilities included planning and giving discussion sessions, writing homework solutions, and giving two guest lectures.

Professional Service
Student advisor to journal editor, Wiley-Blackwell: Stat. and Math., 2009-2011 Responsibilities included providing opinions on new devices and technologies, the Generation Y" scientic community, and literature research preferences. Wiley Science Advisor, John Wiley & Sons, 2010-present Responsibilities included providing opinions on publishing decisions, market feedback, and technology usage. Editorial Board of Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 2011-present Referee: Annals of Applied Statistics, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Statistics, SIAM Journal on Optimization, Statistical Analysis and Data Mining, Statistics & Probabilty Letters, Statistical Methods in Medical Research, PLoS One Organizer of Invited Session, Tensor Decompositions and their Applications," 43rd Symposium on the Interface, Houston, Texas, May 16-18, 2012 Co-organizer (with Vadim Zipunnikov) of Invited Session, Multiway World: Modern Data Analysis with Tensor Decompositions," Joint Statistical Meetings, San Diego, California, Jul. 28-Aug. 2, 2012 Co-organizer (with Miles Lopes) of Invited Session, Random Solutions to Big Problems," 44th Symposium on the Interface, Orange County, April 4-6, 2013 Co-organizer (with Tamara Kolda) of Allocated (IMS) Invited Session, The Intersection of Tensor Analysis and Statistics," Joint Statistical Meetings, Montral, Canada, Aug. 3-8, 2013

Eric C. Chi

Professional Memberships
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), American Statistical Association (ASA), Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS), Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)

Technical Skills
Programming: R, Matlab, C, Fortran
AT X, BibT X, Apple Works, Microsoft Ofce Applications: L E E

Operating Systems: Unix/Linux, Windows