Ian Zhang

I’m an incoming PhD student at the University of Toronto under the joint supervision of Joshua Speagle and Thibault Randrianarisoa. I received my Honours BSc in statistics and mathematics from UofT in 2025, from which I graduated with high distinction, and my MSc in statistics in 2026.

For my PhD, I intend to work on approximate Bayesian methods for image-based stellar and galatic inference. Currently, standard practice is to convert satellite images to tabular data and to conduct inference based off that data, but this often leaves out important details and induces model misspecification, an especially problematic phenomonen in this case given that stellar/galactic inferential models can be particularly prior sensitive. The idea is to use the images themselves as data, which is much more difficult to do than if I were to use tabular data, but will lead to (hopefully) better results.

I was previously a two-time Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Undergraduate Student Research Award (NSERC USRA) awardee, conducting research under the supervision of Mike Kouritzin at the University of Alberta. I am currently a graduate student researcher affiliated the Rotman Research Institute (RRI) at Baycrest, an academic health sciences center focused on geriatric care and dementia research, under the supervision of Malcolm Binns.