Research & scholarship
Publications
Google ScholarPreprints
6 worksGradient-Guided Density Peak Clustering
Yikun Zhang and Yen-Chi Chen. arXiv: 2610.01050. (2026+)
Emputation: Identification-Guided Neural Imputation Framework
Yanjiao Yang, Yikun Zhang, Xinwei Shen, and Yen-Chi Chen. arXiv: 2607.05279. (2026+)
Transfer Learning Through Conditional Quantile Matching
Yikun Zhang, Steven Wilkins-Reeves, Wesley Lee, and Aude Hofleitner. arXiv: 2602.02358. (2026+)
Doubly Robust Inference on Causal Derivative Effects for Continuous Treatments
Yikun Zhang and Yen-Chi Chen. arXiv: 2501.06969. (2025+)
Nonparametric Inference on Dose-Response Curves Without the Positivity Condition
Yikun Zhang, Yen-Chi Chen, and Alexander Giessing. arXiv: 2405.09003. (2024+)
The EM Perspective of Directional Mean Shift Algorithm
Yikun Zhang and Yen-Chi Chen. arXiv: 2101.10058. (2021+)
Journal Publications
5 worksEfficient Inference on High-Dimensional Linear Models with Missing Outcomes
Yikun Zhang, Alexander Giessing, and Yen-Chi Chen. Electronic Journal of Statistics, 20(2): 4256-4377. (2026)
Mode and Ridge Estimation in Euclidean and Directional Product Spaces: A Mean Shift Approach
Yikun Zhang and Yen-Chi Chen. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 35(1): 101-100. (2026)
Linear Convergence of the Subspace Constrained Mean Shift Algorithm: From Euclidean to Directional Data
Yikun Zhang and Yen-Chi Chen. Information and Inference: A Journal of the IMA, 12(1): 210-311. (2023)
SCONCE: A Cosmic Web Finder for Spherical and Conic Geometries
Yikun Zhang, Rafael S. de Souza, and Yen-Chi Chen. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 517(1): 1197–1217. (2022)
Kernel Smoothing, Mean Shift, and Their Learning Theory with Directional Data
Yikun Zhang and Yen-Chi Chen. Journal of Machine Learning Research 22(154): 1-92. (2021)
Conference Proceedings
2 worksLearning Bayesian Network Structure by Self-Generating Prior Information: The Two-step Clustering-based Strategy
Yikun Zhang, Yang Liu, and Jiming Liu. In Proceedings of the Workshops of the Thirty-Second (AAAI-18) Conference on Artificial Intelligence, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, pages 530-537. (2018)
Bayesian Network Structure Learning: The Two-step Clustering-based Algorithm
Yikun Zhang, Jiming Liu, and Yang Liu. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Second AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-18) Student Abstract and Poster Program, pages 8183-8184. (2018)
Catalog Data
1 workSDSS-IV Cosmic Web Catalog
Yikun Zhang. Published June 10, 2022 on Zenodo.
Other Collaborations
3 worksA Practical Introduction to Regression-based Causal Inference in Meteorology (II): Unmeasured confounders
Caren Marzban, Yikun Zhang, Nicholas Bond, and Michael Richman. arXiv: 2506.18652. (2025+)
A Practical Introduction to Regression-based Causal Inference in Meteorology (I): All confounders measured
Caren Marzban, Yikun Zhang, Nicholas Bond, and Michael Richman. arXiv: 2506.18808. (2025+)
BLADE: Benchmarking Language Model Agents for Data-Driven Science
Ken Gu, Ruoxi Shang†, Ruien Jiang†, Keying Kuang†, Richard-John Lin†, Donghe Lyu†, Yue Mao†, Youran Pan†, Teng Wu†, Jiaqian Yu†, Yikun Zhang†, Tianmai M. Zhang†, Lanyi Zhu†, Mike A. Merrill, Jeffrey Heer, Tim Althoff (†=equal contributions). Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EMNLP 2024, pages 13936–13971, Miami, Florida, USA. (2024)
PhD Dissertation
1 workGeometry-Aware Statistical Learning and Causal Inference for Complex Observational Data
Yikun Zhang. Doctoral Dissertation. (2026)
Papers that connect research areas appear under each relevant topic.
Nonparametric Statistics & Geometry
kernel smoothing, density ridges, mode clustering, and optimization on manifolds.
Gradient-Guided Density Peak Clustering
Yikun Zhang and Yen-Chi Chen. arXiv: 2610.01050. (2026+)
Mode and Ridge Estimation in Euclidean and Directional Product Spaces: A Mean Shift Approach
Yikun Zhang and Yen-Chi Chen. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 35(1): 101-100. (2026)
Linear Convergence of the Subspace Constrained Mean Shift Algorithm: From Euclidean to Directional Data
Yikun Zhang and Yen-Chi Chen. Information and Inference: A Journal of the IMA, 12(1): 210-311. (2023)
The EM Perspective of Directional Mean Shift Algorithm
Yikun Zhang and Yen-Chi Chen. arXiv: 2101.10058. (2021+)
Kernel Smoothing, Mean Shift, and Their Learning Theory with Directional Data
Yikun Zhang and Yen-Chi Chen. Journal of Machine Learning Research 22(154): 1-92. (2021)
Causal Inference
continuous treatments, posivitiy violations, and causal derivative effects.
Doubly Robust Inference on Causal Derivative Effects for Continuous Treatments
Yikun Zhang and Yen-Chi Chen. arXiv: 2501.06969. (2025+)
A Practical Introduction to Regression-based Causal Inference in Meteorology (II): Unmeasured confounders
Caren Marzban, Yikun Zhang, Nicholas Bond, and Michael Richman. arXiv: 2506.18652. (2025+)
A Practical Introduction to Regression-based Causal Inference in Meteorology (I): All confounders measured
Caren Marzban, Yikun Zhang, Nicholas Bond, and Michael Richman. arXiv: 2506.18808. (2025+)
Nonparametric Inference on Dose-Response Curves Without the Positivity Condition
Yikun Zhang, Yen-Chi Chen, and Alexander Giessing. arXiv: 2405.09003. (2024+)
Missing Data & High-dimensional Inference
Reliable inference and identification with incomplete observations.
Emputation: Identification-Guided Neural Imputation Framework
Yanjiao Yang, Yikun Zhang, Xinwei Shen, and Yen-Chi Chen. arXiv: 2607.05279. (2026+)
Efficient Inference on High-Dimensional Linear Models with Missing Outcomes
Yikun Zhang, Alexander Giessing, and Yen-Chi Chen. Electronic Journal of Statistics, 20(2): 4256-4377. (2026)
Transfer Learning & Domain Adaptation
Learning across populations through distributional matching.
Transfer Learning Through Conditional Quantile Matching
Yikun Zhang, Steven Wilkins-Reeves, Wesley Lee, and Aude Hofleitner. arXiv: 2602.02358. (2026+)
Astrostatistics
cosmic web and AI for astronomy.
SCONCE: A Cosmic Web Finder for Spherical and Conic Geometries
Yikun Zhang, Rafael S. de Souza, and Yen-Chi Chen. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 517(1): 1197–1217. (2022)
SDSS-IV Cosmic Web Catalog
Yikun Zhang. Published June 10, 2022 on Zenodo.
Others
BLADE: Benchmarking Language Model Agents for Data-Driven Science
Ken Gu, Ruoxi Shang†, Ruien Jiang†, Keying Kuang†, Richard-John Lin†, Donghe Lyu†, Yue Mao†, Youran Pan†, Teng Wu†, Jiaqian Yu†, Yikun Zhang†, Tianmai M. Zhang†, Lanyi Zhu†, Mike A. Merrill, Jeffrey Heer, Tim Althoff (†=equal contributions). Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EMNLP 2024, pages 13936–13971, Miami, Florida, USA. (2024)
Learning Bayesian Network Structure by Self-Generating Prior Information: The Two-step Clustering-based Strategy
Yikun Zhang, Yang Liu, and Jiming Liu. In Proceedings of the Workshops of the Thirty-Second (AAAI-18) Conference on Artificial Intelligence, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, pages 530-537. (2018)
Bayesian Network Structure Learning: The Two-step Clustering-based Algorithm
Yikun Zhang, Jiming Liu, and Yang Liu. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Second AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-18) Student Abstract and Poster Program, pages 8183-8184. (2018)