CV

Professional Experience

  • 2025–Present

    University of Pennsylvania

    Postdoctoral Researcher

    Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics

    Perelman School of Medicine

    Philadelphia, PA

    Mentor: Prof. Hongzhe Li

Education

  • 2020–2025

    Fudan University

    Ph.D. in Statistics

    Department of Statistics

    Shanghai, China

    Advisor: Prof. Zhongyi Zhu

  • 2023–2024

    University of California, Irvine

    Visiting Ph.D. Student, Department of Statistics

    Irvine, CA

    Host: Prof. Annie Qu

  • 2016–2020

    Tongji University

    B.S. in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics

    Shanghai, China

Research Interests

AI-augmented inference, Synthetic data, Data integration, Transfer learning

Causal inference, Optimal transport, Quantile regression, High-dimensional data

Integrative genomics, Single-cell genomics

Publications

2026

Generation-Powered Inference for Distribution-valued Outcomes Yijiao Zhang and Hongzhe Li. arXiv, 2026. [arXiv]
Causal Network Discovery from Interventional Count Data with Latent Linear DAGs Yijiao Zhang and Hongzhe Li. arXiv, 2026. [arXiv]
Bayesian Environment Invariant Regression Ruqian Zhang, Juan Shen, and Yijiao Zhang†. arXiv, 2026. [arXiv]
Transfer Learning for High-dimensional Quantile Regression with Distribution Shift Ruiqi Bai, Yijiao Zhang†, Hanbo Yang, and Zhongyi Zhu†. arXiv, 2026. [arXiv]
Syntax-Guided Diffusion Language Models with User-Integrated Personalization Ruqian Zhang, Yijiao Zhang, Juan Shen, Zhongyi Zhu, and Annie Qu. The Annals of Applied Statistics, to appear, 2026. [arXiv]
Individualized Dynamic Mediation Analysis Using Latent Factor Models Yijiao Zhang, Yubai Yuan, Yuexia Zhang, Zhongyi Zhu, and Annie Qu. Journal of the American Statistical Association, to appear, 2026. [Paper]
Covariate-Elaborated Robust Partial Information Transfer with Conditional Spike-and-Slab Prior Ruqian Zhang*, Yijiao Zhang*, Juan Shen, Zhongyi Zhu, and Annie Qu. Journal of the American Statistical Association, to appear, 2026. [Paper]

2025

Optimal Transport based Cross-Domain Integration for Heterogeneous Data Yubai Yuan, Yijiao Zhang, Babak Shahbaba, Norbert Fortin, Keiland Cooper, Qing Nie, and Annie Qu. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 120(551), 1449–1462, 2025. [Paper]
A Data Fusion Method for Quantile Treatment Effects Yijiao Zhang and Zhongyi Zhu. Statistica Sinica, 35, 981–1002, 2025. [Paper] [arXiv]
Transfer Learning for High-dimensional Quantile Regression via Convolution Smoothing Yijiao Zhang and Zhongyi Zhu. Statistica Sinica, 35, 939–958, 2025. [Paper] [arXiv]

* Joint first author; † corresponding author.

Talks

Invited

  • Nov. 2023

    Young Statisticians Forum of Nankai University

    Tianjin, China

    Transfer Learning for High-dimensional Quantile Regression via Convolution Smoothing

  • Jul. 2023

    ICSA 2023 China Conference

    Chengdu, China

    Transfer Learning for High-dimensional Quantile Regression via Convolution Smoothing

Contributed

  • Aug. 2026

    JSM 2026

    Boston, MA

    Causal Network Discovery from Interventional Count Data with Latent Linear DAGs

  • Jul. 2025

    JCSDS 2025 China Conference

    Hangzhou, China

    Individualized Dynamic Mediation Analysis Using Latent Factor Models

  • Aug. 2024

    JSM 2024

    Portland, OR

    Individualized Dynamic Mediation Analysis Using Latent Factor Models

  • Jul. 2023

    JCSDS 2023 China Conference

    Beijing, China

    Transfer Learning for High-dimensional Quantile Regression via Convolution Smoothing

Professional Service

Reviewer

Journal of the American Statistical Association; Journal of Machine Learning Research; PLOS Genetics; Spatial Economic Analysis; Statistics and Computing.

Teaching Experience

  • 2023

    Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics

    Teaching Assistant · Undergraduate · Fall 2023

    Statistical Data Analysis

    Teaching Assistant · Master’s · Spring 2023

  • 2021

    Applied Statistics

    Teaching Assistant · MBA · Spring 2021

    Statistical Software

    Teaching Assistant · Undergraduate · Spring 2021

    Nonparametric Statistics

    Teaching Assistant · Undergraduate · Spring 2021

  • 2020

    Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics

    Teaching Assistant · Undergraduate · Fall 2020

Awards & Honours

  • Jun. 2025

    Fudan Academic Star, Fudan University

    (30 recipients university-wide)

  • Jun. 2025

    Excellent Graduate of Shanghai

  • Nov. 2023

    National Scholarship for Doctoral Students

  • Nov. 2021

    National Scholarship for Master's Students