s.moka@unsw.edu.au

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Announcements

  • Masters/Honors Project 1: The stockpiling of tyres poses significant health and environmental risks. Storing an excessive number of tyres raises the likelihood of a fire, which can have severe repercussions. Stockpiling of tyres above the allowed limit can be caused by a variety of factors, including market pressures, mishandling, and illegal behavior.

    In this joint project with the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria, Prof Samuel Muller, Macquarie University, and I are developing a practically feasible validated method with a reliable estimate of number of tyres in stockpile that is admissible in court as evidence. I am looking for a masters/honors student to work on lab-based experiments and to model the collected data using statistics. Drop me an email if you are a student and interested in working on this project.

  • Masters/Honors Project 2: Many Australians have had a painful bluebottle sting when swimming at the beach, yet little is known about the bluebottle, and when they will arrive, and if it will be in large swarms or only a few individuals.

    Dr Amandine Schaeffer and I are looking for a masters/honors student to work on a data driven project to investigate machine learning techniques to address these challenges. Drop us an email if you are a student and interested in working on this project. For more details, click here.

  • Book: The forthcoming book on deep learning, co-authored with Professor Benoit Liquet and Associate Professor Yoni Nazarathy, is nearing publication with CRC Press. You can freely download all the chapters at Mathematical Engineering of Deep Learning.

About Me

I am an academic researcher and educator at the School of Mathematics and Statistics at The University of New South Wales (UNSW). I also hold a honorary research fellow position in the School of Mathematical and Physical Science at Macquarie University.

My research interests encompass applied probability, computational statistics, machine learning, and deep learning. I have made contributions to optimization methods for efficient model selection in high-dimensional settings, and I have developed fast unbiased sampling and estimation techniques for spatial point processes and random graphs. Moreover, my research focus extends to efficient pruning methods for deep neural networks. In addition to research, I have been actively teaching advanced statistical and deep learning courses.

Prior to joining UNSW in 2023, I served as a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Mathematical and Physical Science at Macquarie University for nearly two years. Prior to that, I held the position of ACEMS (ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical & Statistical Frontiers) Postdoctoral Researcher in School of Mathematics and Physics at The University of Queensland for four years. My academic journey includes earning a PhD in Applied Probability from the School of Technology and Computer Science at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Engineering with a focus on Electricals, Electronics, and Communications, at Indian Institute of Science and Andhra University, respectively. Before pursuing my doctoral studies, I was a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization (SHAR, Sriharikota), where he worked on Communication Networks that support rocket launch activities.