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Jason Altschuler

Assistant Professor of Statistics and Data Science, UPenn

Office: ARB 315
Email: alts [at] upenn [dot] edu

CV

I am creating/organizing the UPenn Optimization Seminar. Join us Thursdays 12-1pm in SHDH 1201.

About

I am an Assistant Professor at UPenn in the Wharton Department of Statistics and Data Science, the Department of Electrical Engineering (by courtesy), and the Department of Computer Science (by courtesy). I am also an affiliated faculty member in Applied Mathematics, the PRiML Center for Machine Learning, and the Warren Center for Networks and Data Science.

My research interests are broadly at the interface of optimization, probability, and machine learning, with a focus on the design and analysis of large-scale algorithms.

Previously, I received my undergrad degree from Princeton, and my PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, where I recieved the Sprowls Award for the best MIT thesis in AI & Decision Making. I am interested in practical implementations as well as theory, and have spent time in both tech (Apple Research, Google Research) and Wall Street (DE Shaw, Tower Research).

In my free time, I like to ski, play tennis, and eat too many cookies. I also like chess and, in a past life, I obtained an International Master norm in Spain. In another past life I swam on the Oxford varsity team.

Publications

Preprints

Journal articles

Conference proceedings

Theses

Teaching

At UPenn:
  • STAT 9910: Stability in Optimization and Statistics (grad course) -- Fall 2024
  • STAT 4300: Probability -- Spring 2024 Wharton Teaching Excellence Award
  • STAT 9910: Advanced Topics in Optimization (grad course) -- Fall 2023
At NYU, I taught the grad course DS-GA 1014 Optimization and Computational Linear Algebra in Fall 2022.

At MIT, I was a TA for the grad course 6.255/15.093 Optimization Methods in Fall 2019.

At Princeton, I was a TA for:
  • COS 511: Theoretical machine learning (grad course) -- Spring 2016
  • MAT 340: Applied algebra -- Fall 2015
  • MAT 216: Honors real analysis -- Fall 2014
  • MAT 217: Honors linear algebra -- Spring 2014
  • MAT 215: Honors real analysis -- Fall 2013

Disambiguation

Thanks to my family, I am Dr. Altschuler #n, for some large n≥5. If you are looking for a probability expert (who shares some co-authors), you may be looking for my brother Dylan Altschuler.