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Melody Huang

@melodyyhuang.bsky.social
1.6K followers 110 following 26 posts

Currently @ Yale, working on causal inference & cutting down on caffeine. Website: melodyyhuang.com

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Reposted by Melody Huang
Terence Tao @teorth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A group of 25 Fields Medalists, including myself, have made a joint declaration on Math and AI: mathandai.org . We welcome additional signatories. See also this article in the Economist announcing the declaration: www.economist.com/science-and-...
mathandai.org
Declaration — Math and AI
Read the declaration and add your name.
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angela zhou @angelamczhou.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Po-Ling Loh has a column in the IMS with a proposal to, in light of recent advances in AI math, create a publication structure that incentivizes human collaboration imstat.org/2026/09/01/p...
imstat.org
Institute of Mathematical Statistics | Po-Ling Loh: AI, From Competition to Collaboration
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John Mullahy @johnmullahy.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Frog tied some string around the box. “There,” he said. “Now our manuscript is completed.” “But we can do lots more robustness checks,” said Toad. “That is true,” said Frog.
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Melody Huang @melodyyhuang.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
My paper with Sam Pimentel on worst-case confounders is now out at Observational Studies in a special issue on Cornfield sensitivity analysis! (1/5) muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...
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Melody Huang @melodyyhuang.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Really excited to see that my paper with Erin Hartman on assessing non-ignorable nonresponse in survey weighting is (finally) out! doi.org/10.1093/poq/...
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Noah Greifer @noahgreifer.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Fascinating and clear paper by @corymccartan.com and @melodyyhuang.bsky.social, greatly enhancing our understanding of how Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART) works and why it is so effective. A must-read for my fellow BART enthusiasts. #statssky #causalinference
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Cory McCartan @corymccartan.com · 03/08/2026
New WP w/@melodyyhuang.bsky.social studying the success of BART models, which regularly win causal inference competitions! We argue that BART should be thought of as a random features approximation to a limiting GP. This view helps understand BART & apply it in more places arxiv.org/abs/2607.28844
Seeing the Forest for the Trees: The Gaussian Process Limit of BART

Cory McCartan & Melody Huang

Abstract:
Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART) have shown state-of-the-art performance in both prediction and causal inference problems. Previous theoretical work has attempted to explain BART’s superior performance by establishing posterior contraction rates for standard BART models, but these rates depend strongly on the number of covariates. Here, we take a different approach and study the behavior of BART as the number of trees grows towards infinity. We show that in this regime, BART converges to a Gaussian process (GP) with a particular kernel. The kernel and its corresponding reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) have favorable inferential properties that help explain BART’s excellent performance. We introduce random tree features as an approximation to this limiting GP, and establish minimax-optimal learning rates for ridge
regression on these random features that depend only logarithmically on dimension. In addition to providing insight into the empirical success of BART, random tree features offer a computational benefit over traditional MCMC estimation. The random-features approximation also allows
practitioners to easily incorporate BART into any model which has a linear predictor, expanding the applicability and flexibility of BART.
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Reposted by Melody Huang
ArXiv Paperboy (Stat.ME+Econ.EM) @paperposterbot.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
arXiv📈🤖 Seeing the Forest for the Trees: The Gaussian Process Limit of BART By McCartan, Huang
Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART) have shown state-of-the-art performance in both prediction and causal inference problems. Previous theoretical work has attempted to explain BART's superior performance by establishing posterior contraction rates for standard BART models, but these rates depend strongly on the number of covariates. Here, we take a different approach and study the behavior of BART as the number of trees grows towards infinity. We show that in this regime, BART converges to a Gaussian process (GP) with a particular kernel. The kernel and its corresponding reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) have favorable inferential properties that help explain BART's excellent performance. We introduce *random tree features* as an approximation to this limiting GP, and establish minimax-optimal learning rates for ridge regression on these random features that depend only logarithmically on dimension. In addition to providing insight into the empirical success of BART, random tree features offer a computational benefit over traditional MCMC estimation. The random-features approximation also allows practitioners to easily incorporate BART into any model which has a linear predictor, expanding the applicability and flexibility of BART.
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Melody Huang @melodyyhuang.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
New working paper with @corymccartan.com on the Gaussian Process limit of BART! (Bayesian Additive Regression Trees... not the Bay Area Rapid Transit sadly) arxiv.org/abs/2607.28844
arxiv.org
Seeing the Forest for the Trees: The Gaussian Process Limit of BART
Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART) have shown state-of-the-art performance in both prediction and causal inference problems. Previous theoretical work has attempted to explain BART's superior p...
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Reposted by Melody Huang
Mine Doğucu @minedogucu.com · 29/07/2026
#JSM2026 Jacob Bien’s JSM Scheduler is back! jsmscheduler.com
jsmscheduler.com
JSM Scheduler
Build a personalized JSM 2026 schedule starting with the talks of people in your citation network.
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Reposted by Melody Huang
Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 23/07/2026
Last year, Hong Wang and Joshua Zahl presented a 127-page inductive argument proving the three-dimensional Kakeya set conjecture. For Wang, there was no celebration. Only more questions. Now Wang has won the Fields Medal. www.quantamagazine.org/hong-wang-wi...
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The R Foundation @r-foundation.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
The 2026 Rousseeuw Prize for Statistics has been awarded to the R Project. #RStats www.rousseeuwprize.org/2026
rousseeuwprize.org
The Rousseeuw Prize for Statistics
The Rousseeuw Prize for Statistics is a biennial prize to celebrate outstanding contributions to statistics research.
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Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
"The real threat is a slow, comfortable drift toward not understanding what you're doing." (from essay 1)
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Yale ISPS @ispsyale.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Why What Works in One Place Doesn’t Always Work Elsewhere. @melodyyhuang.bsky.social hosts a conference on external validity: bit.ly/4xK8aAO @cdsamii.bsky.social @awilke.bsky.social
Naoki Egami speaks in front of a projection screen covered in equations
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Cyrus Samii @cdsamii.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Participated in “Perspectives on External Validity” workshop yesterday, organized by @melodyyhuang.bsky.social at @ispsyale.bsky.social isps.yale.edu/events/2026/...
isps.yale.edu
ISPS Conference Workshop: “Perspectives on External Validity in the Social Sciences” | Institution for Social and Policy Studies
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Yale ISPS @ispsyale.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
If you've ever been to ISPS, you have almost certainly met Pam Greene, who is retiring this week after 35 years: bit.ly/43hvNml
Pam Greene speaks at a lectern next to a projection screen showing a photo of her in a classroom.
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Brandon Stewart @bstewart.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
1/ New @Nature! We study how powerful institutions shape the information environment for LLMs. Commercial LLM training is opaque, so we trace a path from state-coordinated media -> training data -> model responses.
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Cyrus Samii @cdsamii.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Just wrapped up another year of Quant 2, my PhD-level causal inference course. Lots of updates to the literature this year, did an "estimator tournament" as part of an assignment on DID estimators, and included regular in-class pen and paper exercises. Materials here: cyrussamii.com?page_id=4190
cyrussamii.com
[2026 Spring] POLS GA 1251 Quant II – Cyrus Samii
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Ben Recht @beenwrekt.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
In lieu of lecture blogging on simulation and prediction, check out this fortuitously timed op-ed in the NY Times by @leifw.bsky.social and me on the absurdity of Silicon Sampling. (Related lecture blog tomorrow!)
nytimes.com
Opinion | It’s Called Silicon Sampling, and It’s Going to Ruin Public Opinion Polling
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John Mullahy @johnmullahy.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
"Frog," said Toad, "let us do one very last sensitivity analysis, and then we will stop."
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Institute for Quantitative Social Science @ Harvard @iqss.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Weds at 12:00 ET: #Yale assistant professor @melodyyhuang.bsky.social presents "Relative Bias Under Imperfect Identification in Observational #CausalInference" at this week's #AppliedStatistics workshop. #politicalscience #statistics appliedstatsworkshopgov3009.hsites.harvard.edu/event/melody...
appliedstatsworkshopgov3009.hsites.harvard.edu
Melody Huang (Yale) | Applied Statistics Workshop Gov 3009
Breadcrumbs
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BART @bart.gov · 19/02/2026
Congrats to BART rider and Oakland legend Alysa Liu on winning a gold medal at the Olympics and making the Bay Area proud!
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Anton Strezhnev @astrezh.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
I keep coming back to @cdsamii.bsky.social essay on the “problem-centered” over “puzzle-centered” research paradigm and I can’t help but feel like so many problems with social science methods boil down to this cyrussamii.com?p=3682
cyrussamii.com
The “problem solving” approach and social science methodology – Cyrus Samii
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 03/02/2026
Proof Without Content xkcd.com/3201/
Comic. Conjecture: It’s possible to construct a convincing proof without words, pictures, or content of any kind. Proof: [empty box] [caption] Proofs without words are cool, but we can go further.
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Cyrus Samii @cdsamii.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
A blog post giving a more thorough take on survey experiments and the credibility revolution: cyrussamii.com?p=4168
cyrussamii.com
Survey experiments and the credibility revolution – Cyrus Samii
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Daniel de Kadt @dandekadt.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
To me this is a depressing theme in modern academia. There is so much work being produced, and so many competing demands on our time, that people rarely seem able to just closely read work and frankly say "yes, I believe this" or "no, I don't." If we aren't doing this, what _are_ we doing?!
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Josh McCrain @joshmccrain.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
new paper by Sean Westwood: With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
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Johan Ugander @jugander.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Excellent report on experiences of @guidoimbens.bsky.social & Mary Wootters co-teaching "Causality, Decision Making, and Data Science" to undergrads at Stanford fall 2024: hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/uynpjlow... Course material here: stanford-causal-inference-class.github.io
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Melody Huang @melodyyhuang.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Excited to see our paper on evaluating whether AI can help humans make better decisions is now out in @pnas.org! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
Does AI help humans make better decisions? A statistical evaluation framework for experimental and observational studies | PNAS
The use of AI, or more generally data-driven algorithms, has become ubiquitous in today’s society. Yet, in many cases and especially when stakes ar...
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Reposted by Melody Huang
Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham @paulgp.com · 16/09/2025
Going to include this on my slides about partial identification
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Emma Zang @dremmazang.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
The Yale Population Studies Workshop is live! Check out our fall lineup here: isps.yale.edu/population-s... Speakers span sociology, economics, medicine, and political science. Both Yale and non-Yale folks are welcome to sign up for the email listserv!
isps.yale.edu
Population Studies Workshop | Institution for Social and Policy Studies
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Chris Kenny, PhD @chriskenny.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Could that be @melodyyhuang.bsky.social's new #rstats package for sensitivity analyses? 👀
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Cory McCartan @corymccartan.com · 01/08/2025
Lots of different ways to do observational causal inference—IV, proximal inference, etc. What if you could compare those strategies more directly? New preprint w/ @melodyyhuang.bsky.social tries to do just that. Here's one cool figure—we're able to visualize bias of 3 estimators on the same plot
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Melody Huang @melodyyhuang.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
New working paper with @corymccartan.com on comparing the relative bias of different identification approaches! We compare the bias of selection-on-observables, instrumental variables, and proximal inference estimates under violations of their identifying assumptions. arxiv.org/abs/2507.23743
arxiv.org
Relative Bias Under Imperfect Identification in Observational Causal Inference
To conduct causal inference in observational settings, researchers must rely on certain identifying assumptions. In practice, these assumptions are unlikely to hold exactly. This paper considers the bias of selection-on-observables, instrumental variables, and proximal inference estimates under violations of their identifying assumptions. We develop bias expressions for IV and proximal inference that show how violations of their respective assumptions are amplified by any unmeasured confounding in the outcome variable. We propose a set of sensitivity tools that quantify the sensitivity of different identification strategies, and an augmented bias contour plot visualizes the relationship between these strategies. We argue that the act of choosing an identification strategy implicitly expresses a belief about the degree of violations that must be present in alternative identification strategies. Even when researchers intend to conduct an IV or proximal analysis, a sensitivity analysis comparing different identification strategies can help to better understand the implications of each set of assumptions. Throughout, we compare the different approaches on a re-analysis of the impact of state surveillance on the incidence of protest in Communist Poland.
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 22/07/2025
Replication Crisis xkcd.com/3117/
4-panel comic. (1) [Person 1 with ponytail flanked by person with short hair and another person speaking into microphone at podium] PERSON 1: In the early 2010s, researchers found that many major scientific results couldn’t be reproduced. (2) PERSON 1: Over a decade into the replication crisis, we wanted to see if today’s studies have become more robust. (3) PERSON 1: Unfortunately, our replication analysis has found exactly the same problems that those 2010s researchers did. (4) [newspaper with image of speakers from previous panels] Headline: Replication Crisis Solved
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Cory McCartan @corymccartan.com · 29/05/2025
I have a new R package, 'bases,' out on CRAN today! 'bases' provides a number of basis expansions that you can use inside any modeling formula. This means you can fit nonparametric regressions with lm() or glmnet() easily! Bases includes random Fourier features, approximate BART, and more!
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Econometrica @ecmaeditors.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
We are pleased to announce an experiment intended to stimulate academic discussion and exchange, centered on papers published in Econometrica 1/5
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Andrew Heiss @andrew.heiss.phd · 20/03/2025
I’ve long used FiveThirtyEight’s interactive “Hack Your Way To Scientific Glory” to illustrate the idea of p-hacking when I teach statistics. But ABC/Disney killed the site earlier this month :( So I made my own with #rstats and Observable and #QuartoPub ! stats.andrewheiss.com/hack-your-way/
Screenshot of the linked Quarto website, with input checkboxes to change different conditions for a regression model that predicts economic performance based on US political party, with a reported p-value
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Nikhil Garg @nkgarg.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
*Please repost* @sjgreenwood.bsky.social and I just launched a new personalized feed (*please pin*) that we hope will become a "must use" for #academicsky. The feed shows posts about papers filtered by *your* follower network. It's become my default Bluesky experience bsky.app/profile/pape...
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Khoa @khoavuumn.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Does drinking this much coffee lower the risk of omitted variable bias?
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Melody Huang @melodyyhuang.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
I have a new working paper with Yi Zhang & Kosuke Imai on estimating generalizable heterogeneous treatment effects (HTEs)! We account for distribution shifts in *both* individual covariates & treatment effect heterogeneity across different source sites. Details below-- arxiv.org/abs/2412.11136
arxiv.org
Minimax Regret Estimation for Generalizing Heterogeneous Treatment Effects with Multisite Data
To test scientific theories and develop individualized treatment rules, researchers often wish to learn heterogeneous treatment effects that can be consistently found across diverse populations and co...
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Melody Huang @melodyyhuang.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
Mellissa Meisels and I are hiring a Yale CSAP predoc for AY25-26. We're looking for someone with strong technical skills & interests in both methods and American politics. If you have any interested undergrads, please send this their way tobin.yale.edu/opportunitie...
tobin.yale.edu
CSAP Predoc: American Politics and Political Methodology
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