About Me.
Hi, I am Ritwik Vashistha! I am currently a PhD student in Statistics at UT Austin. I started this blog in 2020 during the pandemic. One of the first things I wrote was tips for scoring well in an entrance exam for getting into MSc. Statistics programs across IITS in India (IITJAM). Those posts got a lot of reception, and I was delighted to be able to help people in some way. Since then, I have posted on many things, from travel experiences to my thoughts on Napoleon. Hopefully, someone would find some of these things interesting and helpful.
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Beyond Statistics and writing on my blog, I love listening to music (Tame Impala, AR Rahman/Kishore Kumar and Beach House are among my favourites). I also love travelling/hiking and taking photos. I mostly use photography as an excuse to capture the amazing memories that I make every time I visit a new place or hike a new mountain. I also usually like to help people, so if you wish to get in touch about something, feel free to contact me via email or through Linkedin.
Education
2022-
PhD in Statistics
University of Texas at Austin
As part of my PhD, I am currently working on projects related to trustworthiness in machine learning as well as causality in machine learning. Trustworthiness and causality interest me because both of them are important aspects of ML that are often missed while developing models.
2020-2022
MSc. Statistics
IIT Kanpur
My degree in Master's in Statistics focused on taking graduate level courses on probability, mathematics and statistics. Additionally, I did a 6 month research internship with Pfizer during my Master's which inspired me to do PhD and led to a published paper in Scientific Reports. For my academic success at the Master's, I was also given academic excellence prizes and scholarships.
2017-2020
B.Sc. (Hons.) Statistics
University of Delhi
My degree in Bachelor's in Statistics focused on taking foundational courses on mathematics, statistics and economics. During my bachelor's, I spent the most of my time studying for the entrance exam to get into IITs for their Master's programs. Fortunately, I received an All India Rank of 16 out of approximately 3000 applicants and was awarded admission to IIT Kanpur.