Johan Pensar
Academic interests
At a general level, my research interests are focused around developing and applying statistical and machine learning methods for real-world applications. Some key topics are:
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Statistical machine learning
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Probabilistic graphical models
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Network structure learning
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Computational causal inference
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Statistical genomics
Background
I completed my PhD in statistics in 2016 at Åbo Akademi University (Finland), in which I developed a new class of probabilistic graphical models, along with algorithms for learning the structure of the models from data. During 2016-2020, I worked as a postdoc at University of Helsinki (Finland), developing and applying data analysis tools, primarily for applications in bacterial statistical genomics. Since February 2020, I have been working at UiO as an Associate Professor in Statistics and Data Science.
Teaching
- STK4011 - Statistical Inference Theory (Autumn 2020-21).
- STK4290 - Probabilistic Graphical Models (Spring 2021).
Supervision (PhD students)
Main supervisor:
- Anders Hjort (Department of Mathematics, Eiendomsverdi AS, 2020-): Uncertainty in house price prediction (Industrial PhD).
Co-supervisor:
- Juri Kuronen (Department of Biostatistics, 2018-): High-dimensional structure learning of Markov networks with applications in bacterial statistical genomics.
- Ghadi Al Hajj (Department of Informatics, 2020-): Improving generalization of machine learning models in medical image and immune receptor sequence analysis through the incorporation of domain priors and constraints.
Awards
Finnish Statistical Society - Doctoral Thesis Award (2013-2016).
Publications
For a complete list, see my profile at Google Scholar.