About Me
I’m an undergrad at Duke University studying Physics and Mathematics, with a minor in Statistical Science. I’m broadly interested in scientific machine learning theory/methods. Specifics include:
- Learning dynamical systems
- Theory of generative modeling
- Physics-informed methods
- Geometric and dynamics perspectives
I care about applications in microbiology, materials, and quantum systems. I’m also curious about graph methods and representation learning in general. I was born in Beijing, China and live in Cary, NC. My given name is Xiran; I go by Derek.
I’ve put some hand-written lecture notes and notes on select topics here.
Experience
As part of the Lingchong You Lab, I work with VAE models for time-series parameter estimation on bacterial growth curves, specifically targeting chaotic ODE-driven systems.
As part of the Liberata Algorithms Team, I’m developing graph- and embedding-based algorithms for a new academic publishing system based on continuous authorship shares.
In Summer 2026, I will be an undergrad research intern at Oak Ridge National Lab.
In Summer 2025, I was an AI R&D intern at Lenovo with the Cloud Service Providers, where I assembled an AI cluster testbed and looked at network optimization schemes.
Involvements
I lead the Research Committee for the Statistical Science Majors Union (SSMU), where I organize a seminar series and reading group on theory/methods in modern statistics. More here.
I am also a part of the Math Community Team in the Duke Math Department, where I help run undergrad activities, including a mini-colloquium series. I made some custom math board/party games here. I also serve as an Event Coordinator for the Society of Physics Students.
I’m a graphic designer of 8+ years, primarily via Photoshop and (more recently) Figma. I served as a co-director of HackDuke in 2025-2026, where I led the Design Team. I also design for the Duke Math Union, in particular the annual Duke Math Meet. See some past works here.
I’m also a recreational photographer. I’ve done sports photography in the past; now I do mostly events and nature. See some photos here.