Experience
Experience
Education
PhD in Mathematics, University of Illinois Chicago (In Progress)
MS in Applied Statistics, California State University, Long Beach
BS in Economics & BA in Mathematics, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Research Interests
Variable and Model Selection
Survival, Longitudinal, and Time Series Data
Biomedical Applications
Publications
Kong, D., et al. Manuscript in preparation for International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) 2027. (Expected submission: January 2027).
Tran, D.B., Goto, M., Coward, L.U., Kong, D., Goman, G.S., Wang, J., Christov, K., Green, A., Das Gupta, T.K., and Yamada, T. (2026). Near-infrared Fluorescence-guided Imaging Intraoperatively Distinguishes Metastatic and Benign Lymph Nodes in Breast Cancer Animal Models. Under revision at Molecular Therapy Oncology. Supported in part by three grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI).
Kim, S., Krinik, S., and Kong, D. (2026). Cointegration Analysis of Ambient Ozone on Respiratory Disease Prevalence in Southern California. Journal of Applied Statistics: Environmental Statistics and Data Science. 2(1). 1-15.
Kim, S. and Kong, D. (2024). Forecasting Comparison between Dynamic Regression Model and Recurrent Neural Networks with Keras and Analysis of Dropout Regularization Effects. Manuscript.
Research Experience and Selected Projects
A Penalized Framework for Joint Component Selection in Multivariate Dependence (Dissertation), with Dr. Zhong, Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, University of Illinois Chicago, Fall 2026 - Present
Joint Interaction Selection in a Partially Linear Semiparametric Model (Dissertation), with Dr. Wang, Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, University of Illinois Chicago, Spring 2026 - Present
Breast Cancer Lymph Node Metastasis Detection via Fluorescence Imaging, in collaboration with Dr. Yamada, Department of Surgery, University of Illinois Chicago, Fall 2025 - Spring 2026
Validation of a Cointegration Analysis of Ambient Ozone and Respiratory Disease Prevalence in Southern California, based on an M.S. thesis by S. Krinik and advised by Dr. Kim, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, California State University, Long Beach, Fall 2023
Machine Learning-Based Time Series Forecasting and Model Performance Evaluation, advised by Dr. Kim, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, California State University, Long Beach, Fall 2023
Selected Research Projects in Economics
Game Theory: The Interpretation of the Colonel Blotto Game in Probability Theory, Senior Project, advised by Dr. Weimerskirch, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, 2017
The Gravity Model of International Trade under the Armington Assumption: An Empirical Analysis of Bilateral Trade Flows and GDP, Advanced Undergraduate Empirical Research Paper, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions and Economic Development: A Cross-Country Empirical Analysis of GDP per Capita, Undergraduate Empirical Research Paper, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Completed Presentations and Talks
Selection Consistency: From LASSO to Adaptive LASSO, Fréchet Regression, and Dependence.
Main Ref: Zou, H. (2006). The Adaptive LASSO and Its Oracle Properties. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(476), 1418-1429. Expository Talk, Graduate Statistics Seminar, University of Illinois Chicago, October 2026
High-Dimensional RAMP.
Main Ref: Hao, N., Feng, Y., and Zhang, H. H. (2018). Model Selection for High-Dimensional Quadratic Regression via Regularization. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 113(522), 615–625. Expository Talk, Graduate Statistics Seminar, University of Illinois Chicago, February 2026
Planned Presentations and Talks
Zhang, H. H. and Lu, W. (2007). Adaptive LASSO for Cox's Proportional Hazards Model. Biometrika, 94(3), 691-703.
Ang, J. B. and McKibbin, W. J. (2007). Financial Liberalization, Financial Sector Development and Growth: Evidence from Malaysia. Journal of Development Economics, 84, 215–233.
Kim, S., Krinik, S., and Kong, D. (2026). Cointegration Analysis of Ambient Ozone on Respiratory Disease Prevalence in Southern California. Journal of Applied Statistics: Environmental Statistics and Data Science. 2(1). 1-15.
Teaching Assistant Experience
Fall 2026
MATH 218: Applied Linear Algebra
Summer 2026
MATH 220: Introduction to Differential Equations
Spring 2026
STAT 101: Introduction to Statistics
Fall 2025
MATH 180: Calculus 1
Spring 2025
MATH 181: Calculus 2
Fall 2024
MATH 180: Calculus 1
Work Experience
Several unrelated work experiences (as an artillery drill instructor in the Army, product manager, etc)