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Student Seminar: Haewon Hwang
1:00–1:30 pm Jones 226
Monday, February 9, 2026, at 1:00 PM, in Jones 226, 5747 S. Ellis Avenue
Master’s Thesis Presentation
Haewon Hwang, Department of Statistics, The University of Chicago
“Media Violence and Criminal Behavior: evidence from local movie demand”
Department of Computer Science and Data Science Institute Presents: Weijia Shi
2:30–3:30 pm DSI 105
Weijia Shi
PhD Candidate
University of Washington
Title: Breaking the Language Model Monolith
Abstract: Language models (LMs) are typically monolithic: a single model storing all knowledge and serving every use case. This design presents significant challenges; they often generate factually incorrect statements, require costly retraining to add or remove information, and face serious privacy and copyright issues. In this talk, I will discuss how to break this monolith by introducing modular architectures and training algorithms that separate capabilities across composable components. I’ll cover two forms of modularity: (1) External modularity, which augments LMs with external tools like retrievers to improve factuality and reasoning; and (2) internal modularity, which builds inherently modular LMs from decentrally trained components to enable flexible composition and an unprecedented level of control.
Student Seminar: Jose Cruzado
2:00–2:30 pm Jones 111
Monday, February 16, 2026, at 2:00 PM, in Jones 111, 5747 S. Ellis Avenue
Master’s Thesis Presentation
Jose Cruzado, Department of Statistics, The University of Chicago
“TBA”
Student Seminar: Zixuan Qin
1:00–1:30 pm Jones 111
Wednesday, February 18, 2026, at 1:00 PM, in Jones 111, 5747 S. Ellis Avenue
Master’s Thesis Presentation
Zixuan Qin Department of Statistics, The University of Chicago
“Operator Learning and Bispectrum-Guided Diffusion for Functional Multi-Reference Alignment”
Student Seminar: Buning (Erica) Fan
1:30–2:00 pm Jones 111
Wednesday, February 18, 2026, at 1:30 PM, in Jones 111, 5747 S. Ellis Avenue
Master’s Thesis Presentation
Buning Fan, Department of Statistics, The University of Chicago
“Comparing Bayesian Software Platforms for Three-Level Mixed Effects Location Scale Models”
Student Seminar: Yushuo Li
2:00–2:30 pm Jones 111
Wednesday, February 18, 2026, at 2:00 PM, in Jones 111, 5747 S. Ellis Avenue
Master’s Thesis Presentation
Yushuo Li, Department of Statistics, The University of Chicago
“TBA”