My latest paper Proofs of Monotonicity for Truncated Johnson Power-Series Quantile Functions, coauthored with Professor J. Eric Bickel, is now out as preprint on SSRN! This is a short and sweet paper in which I proved two open conjectures in the original Truncated Johnson Power-Series Quantile Functionspaper. The original work presented a novel formulation of the Johnson Quantile function family based on truncations of their power-series. I use some results from real-analysis to show that, for odd truncation order, the truncated SB and SL Johnson power-series are indeed monotonic and are therefore valid quantile functions. This was a short and enjoyable project that allowed me to dig into some technical proofs – Check it out!
Figure.
The derivative of the truncated Johnson SL power-series function with $K$ terms. For odd $K$, the derivative appears to be strictly positive in $z$ for any $\delta > 0$. This (and an analog for the SB power series) is the phenomenon we set out to rigorously prove. Taken from Truncated Johnson Power-Series Quantile Functions (Bickel, 2026).
Dec 19, 2025
My latest paper The QFlex Distribution, coauthored with Professors J. Eric Bickel and Benjamin D. Leibowicz, is out as preprint on SSRN! In this paper, we introduce a new framework for constructing quantile-parameterized distributions from an arbitrary set of quantile assessments. At a high level, our approach takes a finite collection of point assessments from an unknown distribution and produces a high-fidelity estimate of the underlying distribution under very mild assumptions. This system enables decision makers to build meaningful probabilistic models from sparse expert assessments.
Figure.
The QFlex system can match a wide variety of distribution shapes and boundedness. Here is it creating density functions from quantiles sampled from a set of bounded distributions.
Jun 3, 2025
I was honored to have received the IISEBest Student Paper Award in the Energy Systems division for my paper, Optimal Subsidies for CCS: A Stackelberg Game Analysis and its accompanying presentation.
I had a great time presenting my work at the conference and listening to some excellent operations research talks!
Figure.
IISE Award Presentation. They used my website thumbnail!
My latest research paper, Optimal Subsidies for CCS: A Stackelberg Game Analysis (working paper linked here), is now under review at EJOR. This was an exciting collaboration with Professor Leibowicz, where we develop a game-theoretic model examining the strategic interaction between a subsidy-offering government and a CO₂-producing firm. Check it out!
Feb 27, 2025
I am honored to have recently received a University Graduate Continuing Fellowship from the UT Graduate School! This fellowship will allow me to fully dedicate myself to producing high-quality research and empower me to explore the topics that interest me most during the remainder of my time at UT.
Dec 15, 2024
I collaborated with Alejandro Leos on an in-depth research survey about envy-free cake cutting. Check it out here or in the Projects section of the webpage!
Jun 3, 2024
I am starting a Summer internship doing Quantitative Research for the Multi-asset Strategies Group at the Teachers Retirement System of Texas.
This is the group the manages the pension fund for all educators in the state of Texas and is one of the largest in the world. I will be conducting research into new currency trading signals and improving the optimization of portfolios.
Jun 1, 2024
My paper “The effects of policy uncertainty and risk aversion on carbon capture, utilization, and storage investments” was accepted for publication in Energy Policy!
Apr 4, 2024
I will be presenting my work entitled “The Effects of Policy Uncertainty and Risk Aversion on Carbon
Capture, Utilization, and Storage Investments” at the UT CCS Symposium on April 11th!
I made a webpage! I will be sharing my academic publications, my personal and course projects, and posting weekly recreational math and programming problems and my solutions to them! Stay tuned
Nov 4, 2023
I recently attended the USAEE conference in Chicago, Illinois where I presented my work on The Effects of Policy Uncertainty and Risk Aversion on Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Investments. For my presentation and and submission, I received the best student paper award! Thanks Professor Leibowicz for your support!
