About Michael

I am a PhD student in Biostatistics at the University of Utah, specializing in statistical methodology for clinical research such as causal inference, survival analysis, and high-dimensional data analysis. My current work focuses on developing and applying weighting approaches for causal inference and extending them to heterogeneous treatment effects. I am currently a predoctoral fellow on the Mountain States ASCEND TL1 training grant.

Academic Path

My love for mathematical modeling began at the University of Washington, where I was introduced to graph theory and Markov chains. After transferring to Brigham Young University–Hawaii on a recruitment scholarship, I conducted independent research in graph theory and probability models and presented at an undergraduate symposium.

Between undergraduate and graduate study, I worked as a teaching aide for Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) and founded a homeschool math club, where I taught topology, combinatorics, and game theory. During two years of church service in Portugal I developed a bilingual mathematical vocabulary to continue tutoring students in mathematics. It was while I was in Portugal that I decided I wanted to persue a career in statistics, so I began self-studying mathematical statistics in preparation for graduate study.

I earned an MS in Statistics at Montana State University, where I collaborated with microbiologists on experiments in antimicrobial susceptibility and livestock infection. Over the summary I returned to the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth as an instructor for a course entitled Paradoxes and Infinities. My culminating project at Montana State was an introduction to directed acyclic graphs and Markov equivalence in causal inference.

At the University of Utah, I joined the Department of Population Health Sciences as a research assistant, consulting on nephrology and cardiology projects while advancing my methodological research.

Outside Academia

Outside of research, I am an ultramarathoner and mountaineer. I have completed multiple 100-mile races, traversed the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim, and summited several fourteeners across the contiguous United States. These pursuits have taught me endurance, persistence, and the ability to tackle challenges with patience and strategy — values I carry into my work as a statistician.