Greg DePaul
Applied Math Doctoral Student at UC Davis

Education

University of California, Davis

Ph.D. Applied Mathematics

M.S. Statistics

2019-2025

Stanford University

M.S. Computational and Mathematical Engineering

2016-2018

University of Arizona

B.S. Computer Engineering

B.S. Double Major in Mathematics and Computer Science

2012-2016

Employment Summary

Data Science Intern

June 2024 - September 2024

Working with Ads Infrastructure team for better ML training Strategies.

Pattern AI Researcher

April 2023 - June 2023

Work on combining local knowledge bases with conversational agents.

Pinterest Labs Research Intern

June 2021 - Sept 2022

Working on data science problems related to the new interest discovery system called Pincepts.

Software Engineer

August 2018 - September 2019

Powerpoint Data Analytics and Machine Learning Team. Worked in a variety of projects dealing with Text2Content features as well as aiding in the release of the new Rehearsal Coach feature.

Technical Intern

June 2017 - September 2017

Research Assistant for Data Analytics Department. Project focused on Machine Learning techniques and Computational linguistics for Information Extraction.

Engineering Summer Intern

June 2016 - September 2016

Worked with FIRST Engineering Department to develop technologies that will benefit robotics teams in order to compete for the 2017 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC).

Awards & Scholarships

GRIPS Fellowship Sponsored by the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM) at UCLA and the Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR)

Winter 2023

Graduate-Level Research in Industrial Projects for Students (GRIPS) will offer gradgripsuate students in mathematics and related disciplines the opportunity to work on industry-sponsored research problems. Students from the U.S. and Germany will work on cross-cultural teams on three research problems designed by the industrial sponsor. The projects will be of serious interest to the sponsor and will offer a stimulating challenge to students; most will involve both analytic and computational work. At the end of the program, the teams will present the results of their work and prepare a final report. English is the only language required for participation.

Yueh-Jing Lin Fellowship

Spring 2021

Yueh-Jing (Jean) Lin and Chau-Hsiung (Mike) Chuang are alumni of UC Davis who met while they were graduate students on campus. This endowment provides scholarship support to one or more mathematics students each year who are high-achieving mathematics students, either undergraduate or graduate.

Stanford Archeology and Engineering Fellowship

Spring 2018

Awarded to aspiring engineers who travel to support conservation efforts on the UNESCO World Heritage site of Chavin de Huantar, Peru.

Schlumberger Innovation Fellowship

Winter 2017

The Schlumberger Innovation Fellows program recognizes aspiring scholars in the fields of machine learning, deep learning, high performance computing, and 3D modeling and data visualization. The award was established to encourage scholarship and research in these emerging technology areas, which hold great promise across many industries to improve performance, lower costs, increase accuracy and provide new research and business insights.

Lusk Scholarship

Spring 2014

Awarded to students majoring in Mathematics that demonstrate academic merit, particularly in mathematics courses at the UA.

W. E. Lucille Barnum Scholarship

Spring 2014

Awarded to students majoring in Engineering that demonstrate academic merit to support and ensure those awarded success as students and practicing professionals.

Regents High Honors Tuition Scholarship

Spring 2012

Established by the Arizona Board of Regents to recognize Arizona high school students for outstanding academic achievements as demonstrated through high school courses and test scores (AIMS).

Past Projects and Research

DEGREES OF THE WASSERSTEIN DISTANCE TO SMALL TORIC MODELS

May 2024

The study of the closest point(s) on a statistical model from a given distribution in the probability simplex with respect to a fixed Wasserstein metric gives rise to a polyhedral norm distance optimization problem. There are two components to the complexity of determining the Wasserstein distance from a data point to a model. One is the combinatorial complexity that is governed by the combinatorics of the Lipschitz polytope of the finite metric to be used. Another is the algebraic complexity, which is governed by the polar degrees of the Zariski closure of the model. We find formulas for the polar degrees of rational normal scrolls and graphical models whose underlying graphs are star trees. Also, the polar degrees of the graphical models with four binary random variables where the graphs are a path on four vertices and the four-cycle, as well as for small, nothree-way interaction models, were computed. We investigate the algebraic degree of computing the Wasserstein distance to a small subset of these models. It was observed that this algebraic degree is typically smaller than the corresponding polar degree. Read Paper

GRIPS: Furthering Flow SSM

Summer 2023

We survey the necessary architectural develops that lead to the development of FlowSSM [1]. We also engineer a sequence model to perform the integration of the identified flow trajectories surrounding a mean shape. Read Paper Access Code

Method and System of Providing Speech Rehearsal Assistance

Summer 2019

A method and system for speech rehearsal assistant during a presentation rehearsal includes receiving audio data from a speech rehearsal session over a network, receiving a transcript for the audio data, the transcript including a plurality of words spoken during the speech rehearsal session, calculating a real time speaking rate for the speech rehearsal session, determining if the speaking rate is within a threshold range, detecting utterance of a filler phrase or sound during the speech rehearsal session using at least in part a machine learning model trained for identifying filler phrases and sounds in a text, and upon determining the speaking rate falls outside the threshold range or detecting the utterance of the filler phrase or sound, enabling real time display of a notification on a display device. Read Patent

Machine Learning Model-based Content Processing Framework

Spring 2019

A textual user input is received and a plurality of different text-to-content models are run on the textual user input. A selection system attempts to identify a suggested content item, based upon the outputs of the text-to-content models. The selection system first attempts to generate a completed suggestion based on outputs from a single text-to-content model. It then attempts to mix the outputs of the text-to-content models to obtain a completed content suggestion. Read Patent

Archaeoacoustics Fieldwork for Aural Heritage Conservation Collaborative Distributed Sound-Sensing at Chavín de Huántar, Perú

Summer 2018

While working in an archeological site, I was given the opportunity to help aide in Archeo-accoustic research. Lot of fun! Read Paper

Developing Remote Sensing Modules for Time-Sequencing Data

Summer 2018

Spent the summer working in an archeological site, developing remote sensing modules which are used to gather valuable data for archeological conservation. Read Paper

USYMQR

Spring 2018

Supervised by Michael Saunders, Stephanie Sanchez and I worked to develop industry level code for Saunder's Modified USYMQR Algorithm for Julia. Read Paper

Predicting Education Opportunity using Machine Learning

Spring 2018

We set out to build a model that, given satellite imagery and structured covariate data, is able to provide a reasonable estimate of the performance of a school district. Read Paper

Reimaging Shallow Structure

Fall 2016

We perform smoothing over the raw velocity spectrum data, and then apply methods of unsupervised classification to emphasize features of nonuniformity. We then create a heuristic-driven graphical overlay for accelerating subsurface fault-line/mineral deposit identification based on reflection seismology. Read Paper

Software Engineering Capstone - Human Interactable Table

Spring 2016

Implement an LED grid on top of your everyday coffee table. This grid is reconfigurable through a Bluetooth connected android device. Read Paper See Video

Huffman Code

Spring 2016

Create an implementation of Huffman Encoding for an arbitrary subset of ASCII characters. This implementation makes explicit use of data structures to ease processing. Read Paper Download Code

Honors Thesis - General Usage Remote Sensing Module

Fall 2015

My team was given the task of design a data acquisition module that is both versatile in its ability to collect different sensory data by alternating sensor units, while also being portable, particularly capable of fitting within the average pocket. The final module is also cost effective, estimated to cost a mere twenty US dollars in order produce a single module. Read Paper

Parallel and Distributed Programming Final Project

Spring 2015

Developed a simple, collaborative editor in Java, using the command design pattern, that provided users the ability to edit the same document simultaneously. Download Code

Conferences and Talks

CIMAT Applied Topology School

November 7-12, 2024

Mérida (Yucatán), México

Presented a three class course on TDA using Python, Gudhi, and Sage.

SIAM Conference on Mathematics of Data Science (MDS24)

October 21-25, 2024

Atlanta, Georgia, U.S

Presenting Leveraging Derived Statistics from Differential Geometry for Understanding High-Dimensional TDA

EMPOWER 2024

October 7-19, 2023

Saclay, France

Spectra Survey of Mathematics Conference

April 5-7, 2023

Ohio State University

Presenting on the Successes and Failures of Starting a Spectra Chapter

BIRS Workshop in Representation Theory and Topological Data Analysis

April 7-12, 2023

Banff International Research Station

Attending as a spectator.

Applied and computational algebraic geometry

January 22-26, 2024

Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (attended virtually)

Attending as a spectator.

GEOTOP-A International Conference

January 8-13, 2023

Mérida (Yucatán), México

Presenting work from "A novel filtered complex from multidimensional Gaussian balls"

Joint Mathematics Meetings

January 3-6, 2024

San Francisco

Presenting work from "Adding Differential Topology and Statistical Robustness to TDA"

Algebraic Statistics for Ecological and Biological Systems

October 9-13, 2023

IMSI, University of Chicago

Purely attended, although enjoyed much of the work on algebraic models dealing with unbounded sequences of finite states, specifically phylogenetics.

Apprenticeship Week: Varieties from Statistics

October 2-6, 2023

IMSI, University of Chicago

Presented some of the joint work with Ikenna Nometa and Nilava Metya under the supervision of Dr. Serkan Hosten on computing the Wasserstein Distance to certain independence models.

The Fifth Annual Central Valley SIAM Conference

April 14th, 2023

University of Calfironai, Merced

Presented on "Novel Resolution of Singularities within Point Cloud Data using TDA"

Contact Me

Email:

gdepaul@ucdavis.edu

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-depaul-173a78a2/

Locale:

Davis, CA