About Me
I’m an undergrad at Duke University studying Physics and Mathematics, with a minor in Statistical Science. I’m interested in scientific machine learning theory/methods from a (stochastic) dynamics and geometry perspective. Specifics include
- Theory: mathematical foundations of generative modeling, transformers
- Methods: learning dynamics, physics-informed techniques
- Applications: microbiology, materials, quantum chemistry
Recently I’ve become interested in quantum information and learning. I was born in Beijing, China. My given name is Xiran; I go by Derek.
I’ve put some notes and other stuff I’ve written here, mainly for my own reference.
Experience
As part of the Lingchong You Lab, I work on ML for time-series parameter estimation and forecasting for bacterial growth.
I’m also working under Jianfeng Lu on the theoretical analysis of sampling algorithms for spin-glasses, with an initial focus on the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick (SK) model.
In Summer 2026, I was a research intern at Oak Ridge National Lab mentored by Stephan Irle and Max Lupo Pasini. Here I used GNNs to learn electron densities of drug-like molecules.
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.
Throughout the 2025-26 school year, as part of the Liberata Algorithms Team, I developed graph- and embedding-based algorithms for a new academic publishing system based on continuous authorship shares.
Involvements
I’m a co-lead organizer of the new DuQuantum quantum computing hackathon at Duke. This is a collaboration between the Duke Quantum Information Society (DuQIS) and HackDuke.
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 and machine learning. More here.
I’m 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 also serve as an Event Coordinator for the Society of Physics Students.
I’m a graphic designer of 8+ years. Lately I use 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.
See some photos here.