Archived newsletters can be found here.

Congratulations to Troy Tao for his preprint: Differentially Private Model-X Knockoffs via Johnson-Lindenstrauss Transform, co-authored with Adel Javanmard!

High-dimensional feature selection is widely used across healthcare, genetics, finance, and psychology, but methods that ensure both statistical reliability and privacy are rare. Existing privacy approaches often inject noise directly, jeopardizing core structures such as exchangeability for principled feature selection based on Model-X knockoff. Troy’s paper employs the idea of dimension reduction via the Johnson-Lindenstrauss Transform (JLT) that preserves the crucial covariance structure while guaranteeing differential privacy, thus enabling well-conditioned knockoff inference.

This work provides both theoretical insight and practical tools for conducting reliable, private feature selection in high-dimensional settings. By ensuring that statistical power remains high and False Discovery Rate (FDR) remains controlled while preserving privacy via JLT, the method empowers trustworthy inference in sensitive domains. Congrats on the great work, Troy!

Every summer, SLMath organizes several summer graduate schools (usually two weeks each), some of which are held at SLMath and others at partner institutions around the world. Attending one of these schools can be a very motivating and exciting experience for a student.

The Math Department submits nominees for this program. To apply for nomination, please fill out this form by November 15th.

Discounted tickets are available for USC students, faculty, and friends to this amazing public lecture by a Nobel Laureate, Kip Thorne. These tickets cost $5 and can be purchased through this form. Please use the code AIMPLS2025 to access the discounted tickets.

This year's conference theme is Building Bridges Beyond the Ph.D.: Empowering Your Next Chapter. Join the Career Center for interdisciplinary keynote panels, industry and academic roundtables, and career chats designed to help you build connections and strengthen your skills as you navigate your career path. Register: https://forms.gle/fyweiFnEtxyHyzBG7

This conference is open to currently enrolled graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, staff, and faculty from all research fields at USC.

Date: Thursday, October 16, 2025
Time: 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM PDT
Location: Zoom
UPC Conference Schedule: https://careers.usc.edu/2025-beyond-the-phd-schedule/

Please view our department's home page for the weekly calendar of seminars and colloquia.

Mondays
2:00-3:30pm
KAP 438C