PI: Claudia Solís-Lemus

I am an assistant professor at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Originally from Mexico City, I did my Undergraduate degrees in Actuarial Sciences and Applied Mathematics at ITAM. Then, I did a MA in Mathematics and a PhD in Statistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In my spare time, I enjoy swimming, running, biking, climbing and yoga!

Pronouns: she/her

Name pronunciation: namedrop.io/claudiasolislemus

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Office 3164 Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
Office 476 Department of Plant Pathology
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI 53715
Phone: (608) 316-4568
USA

Email: solIislemusdon't@wantspam! wSoipleasesleave cme.alonee!du
Twitter: @Isoldon'tiswantspam! leSompleaseuleave smelalonea!b
Mastodon: https://mstdn.social/@solislemuslab
Affiliations at UW-Madison: Department of Statistics, Department of Mathematics, Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, JF Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution, Quantitative Biology Initiative, Center for Genomic Science Innovation, Data Science Institute

Postdocs and Research Fellows

Rosa Aghdam is a researcher in the area of Statistics and Bioinformatics. Her work is focused on the statistical and computational methods for learning microbiome networks. She earned her PhD in Statistics from Shahid Beheshti university in Iran.

Sungsik (Kevin) Kong is a post-doctoral research associate. Kevin is a computational evolutionary biologist who is interested in statistical and computational problems surrounding phylogenetic network estimation and their applications in practice. Kevin conferred his Ph.D. in Evolution, Ecology, and Organismic Biology at the Ohio State University and B.Sc. & M.Sc. at University of Toronto, Canada. Kevin likes traveling and long-distance biking. Emailto: skong32@wisc.edu.

Graduate students

Nathan Kolbow is a Biostatistics Ph.D. student. His research focuses on the statistical and computational methods for estimating phylogenetic trees and networks. His undergraduate education was in Statistics and Computer Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. [github]

Evan Gorstein is a PhD student in statistics. He works on high dimensional mixed effect models for microbiome data. He completed his undergraduate degree in math and statistics at the University of Chicago.

Hailey is a Statistics MS student. She works on inference of viral DNA sequences from phylogenetic trees and corresponding estimation of ancestral DNA sequences in plant viruses. She received her BA in Statistics from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.

Xiaoyang (Peter) Wang is a MS student in Statistic: Data Science. He works on Wisconsin Seed Potato Certification Program, and ANOVA on BHV space. He completed his undergraduate degree in Statistics at East China Normal University.

Ziang (Sirius) Zeng is a MS Graduate in Statistic: Data Science. He works on Statistical test on BHV space. He received his BA in Statistics from East China Normal University and MS in University of Wisconsin Madison.

Jiayang Wang is currently a 2nd year PhD student in the Department of Statistics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Before that he completed his Master’s degree in Data Science and Statistics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and received his B.S. in the school of the gifted young (SGY) at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). His research focuses on the statistical inference on phylogenetic trees and networks.

Mason Garza is a PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He completed his Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Houston and double majored in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science for his B.S. at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV).

Undergraduate students

Yibo Kong is a senior undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science and Data Science. He works on unsupervised learning of phylogenetic trees.

Lakes (Mengze) Tang is a junior undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics. He works on testing the performance of neural networks on simulated genetic data.

Tianyi Xu is a junior undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science, Data Science and Mathematics. He works on network analysis of soil microbiome data and applying deep learning techniques to animal sound data.

Sophia Yang is a junior undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science and Data Science. She works on network analysis of lake microbiome data.

Nan (Nancy) Liu is a senior undergraduate student majoring in Mathematics and Statistics. She works on Goodness-of-fit on phylogenetics, and simulating sequences and trees for diamond.

Emotional support staff

Alfalfa is a mix of cattle dog and border collie. She is passionate about squirrels and other small mammals. In her free time, she likes to study the cushiness properties of grass and the taste of Madison lakes in different seasons.

Former resident of the Dane County Humane Society, Kris is a small orange cat, full of feist with an ear for the piano. When she's not hiding under a bed or staring out a window, Kris enjoys attacking her closest stuffed friend Mr. Banana, eating houseplants, and chasing twist ties across the house.

Past members

• Xudong Tang (MSDS, UW-Madison 2022) worked on Neural Networks applications for phylogenetic inference. He focused on Graph Generative Models on tree structures. He is pursuing PhD in CS at Northwestern University.
• Rohan Sonthalia (Visiting Undergraduate, UW-Madison Fall ‘23) implemented Transformer models for semi-supervised and unsupervised classification problems using DNA sequence datasets of viruses.
• Yunju Ha (BS Statistics, Computer Science, UW-Madison 2025) worked on applying machine learning techniques using DXA/BIS methods for sarcopenia research (UW Madison Biomedical Data Science SROP 2023).
• Yuke Wu (BS Computer Science, Statistics, UW-Madison 2023) developed the BioKlustering web application for learning and visualization of genomic data. She is attending Software Engineering MS program at Carnegie Mellon University.
• Zhaoxing Wu (BS Statistics, Mathematics, Data Science, UW-Madison 2023) developed the Julia package PhyloDiamond: an ultrafast learning of 4-node hybridization cycles in phylogenetic networks using algebraic invariants. She is attending Statistics PhD program at the University of Washington-Seattle
• Reed Nelson (BS Computer Science, Mathematics, Philosophy, UW-Madison 2023) developed MiNAA: Microbiome Network Alignment Algorithm, as well as the Latinx in Stat Database and the Forensic-Statistic Database.
• Marianne Bjørner (MS in Computer Sciences, UW-Madison 2022). They worked on the performance of hybrid detection methods on simulated hybridization scenarios. They are currently working at Epic as software engineer.
• Sam Ozminkowski (MS Statistics, UW-Madison 2022). He worked on Bayesian models with network predictors, specifically focusing on microbiome networks. He is pursuing his PhD in Statistics at Northwestern University.
• Fardeen Meeran (BS Computer Science, UW-Madison 2022). He worked in a web app to visualize phylogenetic networks.
• Zhaoyi Zhang (BS Computer Science, Data Science, Mathematics, UW-Madison 2022). He tested the applicability of deep neural networks to genomic datasets to predict important phenotypes. He will work as a Software Engineer at Oracle after graduation.
• Elaine Wu (BS Computer Science, UW-Madison 2022) is currently a MS student in Carnegie Mellon.
• Yunyi Shen (MS Statistics, Wildlife Ecology, UW-Madison 2021) worked on graphical selection of Gaussian chain graph models using Bayesian LASSO and Spike-and-Slab LASSO methods, their theories, interpretations and applications in microbiome. He is attending EECS PhD program at MIT affiliated with LIDS.
• Nicole Athanasiou (BS Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Environmental Studies, UW-Madison 2021) created interactive web application for biologists to determine their sample size in experiments.
• Shengwen Yang (MS Data Science, UW-Madison 2021) worked on the symmetry preserving Neural Network models for phylogenetic inference.
• Yuren Sun (BS Computer Science, Mathematics, and Economics, UW-Madison 2021) worked on the applications of neural network models in the classifications of animals and pseudomonas sequence data. She will attend MSCS program at Stanford University in Fall 2022.
• Songyang Cheng (BBA, Information Systems + Computer Science, UW-Madison 2021). He tested the applicability of neural network models to microbial genomic datasets to predict important phenotypes like those related to antibiotic resistance. He is attending MEng EECS program at UC-Berkeley.
• Junting Wang (BS Statistics, UW-Madison 2020) is attending UMichigan at the Statistics PhD program
• Ritika Mittal (BS Computer Science, UW-Madison 2022) worked on user-friendly open-source software that would allow biologists to visualize complex phylogenetic networks.
• Lareina Liu (BS Statistics, UW-Madison 2020). She is starting ADS Masters Program at USC in Fall 2020
• Yizhou Liu (BS Computer Science + Mathematics, UW-Madison 2021) worked on user-friendly open-source software for WI Fast Plants. He is attending INI program at CMU
• Yifan Wu (BS Computer Engineering, UW-Madison 2020)
• Yuzheng Zhang (BS Computer Sciences, UW-Madison 2021)
• Liule Yang
• Zhiwen Xu
• Chunrong Huang

Opportunities

• If you are an undergraduate student:
  • currently enrolled at UW-Madison looking for research experience, read here
  • wanting to apply to grad school at UW-Madison, read here
• If you are a graduate student:
  • currently enrolled (or soon to start) at UW-Madison interested in joining the lab or doing a rotation, read here
  • wanting to apply to grad school at UW-Madison, read here
  • wanting to apply for a postdoc position, read here
• If you are a postdoc:
  • wanting to apply for a postdoc position in the lab, read here
  • wanting to apply to your own funding with me as supervisor, read here

New positions funded by NSF CAREER

• Project assistantship in Julia package development and maintenance