Short story

I'm Tao Ma, currently a PhD candidate in data science at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). I obtained my master degree in mathematics from Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University (NYU). My research interests lie in the wide range of decision science, to solve problems in real life, combining ideas from mathematics, data science, computer science and statistics. I'm especially honored to have graduated from Beijing No.4 High School (BHSF).

Research interests

I have broad interests in many different research fields. I used to work on Partial Differential Equations and Mathematical Physics. Recently I focus on methods in decision science, including Multi-armed Bandits, Reinforcement Learning, Game Theory. Another recent focus is on Deep Generative Models and Large Language Models. Trained as an applied mathematician before coming to London, I also look for topics on optimization, privacy, and others. My research advisors include Dr. Zoltán Szabó, Dr. Chengchun Shi and Dr. Milan Vojnovic. Other long-term collaborators include Xuzhi Yang (LSE).

Teaching

Passionate about helping others, I have started teaching courses from 2016, with topics in mathematics, computer science and statistics. I am quite honored to have received the Class Teacher Award at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Best Teaching Assistant Award at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

Academic Service

Reviewer for AISTATS 2025

Reviewer for ICLR 2025

Reviewer for NeurIPS 2024

Department Review Representative 2024 LSE

Department Teaching Committee 2023-2025 LSE

Department Moving Plan Committee 2023-2025 LSE

Selected Awards

LSE Class Teacher Award 2022-2023 LSE

LSE PhD Scholarship 2021-2025 LSE

Best Teaching Assistant Award 2019-2020 HKUST

Outstanding Student Award 2015-2016 The Baptist Convention of Hong Kong

Scholastic Award 2015-2016 HKBU

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Scholarship 2013-2016 APEC

Hong Kong Government Scholarship 2013-2016 HKSAR

The Best Debater Prize 2015-2016 World Mandarin Debating Championship

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship 2014-2015 HKBU

Outstanding Academic Performance Award 2013-2014 HKBU