I'm fortunate to work with an excellent group of graduate and undergraduate students.

Current Students

Graduate Students

  • Nick Toothman (Ph.D.)
  • Jesse Smith (Ph.D.)
  • Ahsan Abdullah (Ph.D.)
  • Gabriel Castillo Cortes (Ph.D.)
  • Qingxiaoyang Zhu (Ph.D.) (Co-advised with Zhou Yu)
  • Kalin Hershey (Masters)
  • Alicia Alare (Masters)

Undergraduate Students

Former Students

Graduate Students

  • Tara Hariri (Masters, 2019)
  • Yuhan Liu (Masters, 2019)
  • Mohammad Adil (Masters)
  • Huaguang Chad Song (Masters)
  • Yingying Wang (Ph.D.)
  • Conghao Jiang (Masters, 2014)
  • Yejin Kim (Ph.D., 2013)
  • Pengcheng Luo (Ph.D., 2013)
  • Yuanfeng Zhu (Masters, 2013)
  • Tyler Martin (Masters, 2012)
  • Ajay Ramakrishnan (Masters, 2011)

Undergraduate Students

  • Arman Kapbasov
  • Jonathan Graham
  • Charlyn Gonda
  • Suzanne Freedman
  • Sameer Khatri
  • Marco Garcia
  • Barney Hsaio
  • Eric Chen

Joining the Group

I am always interested in talking to students or others who are interested in working with our group, but unfortunately I do not have time to reply to all the e-mails I receive, especially from international students.

  • UC Davis Undergraduates: I occasionally hire undergraduates to work with our group and can sometimes provide independent study opportunities for strong students. If you are interested, please send me an e-mail
  • UC Davis or other California Graduate School Applicants: Please contact by e-mail first and if I have an opening and we share mutual interests, we can set up a meeting. It is helpful to first read some of our papers. You can also see the general FAQ for graduate applicants.
  • International Students: I encourage you to apply directly to our graduate program if you are interested in working here. If you write me, please take the time to first look over the papers I've published and read one or two to make sure that our interests align. If you feel like you'd be a good fit with the group, please write and be specific about your interests and why you would like to work with us. I enjoy working with strong international students, but I may not be able to reply to all e-mails, especially if they are generic in nature.