Prospective Students - T.-H. Hubert Chan

Read This Before Applying

If you are a prospective PhD student or Post-doc interested in joining my research group, please note: I do not regularly check the official application database.

To get my attention, you must follow the direct email instructions at the bottom of this page. Quality applications that demonstrate alignment with the criteria below will be prioritized.

Research Directions

My work sits at the intersection of high-level theory and modern algorithmic systems. Current areas of focus include:

Foundations of Privacy & Security: Differential Privacy (DP), differential obliviousness, and secure distributed protocols (e.g., ORAM, MPC).
Algorithmic Game Theory & Market Design: Mechanism design for Automated Market Makers (AMMs), Fisher market equilibrium, and fair allocation in coalitional games.
Modern Graph Algorithms & Clustering: Efficient algorithms for large-scale data, including streaming graphlet sampling and fully dynamic clustering.

For a full list of recent work, please visit my DBLP profile.

What I Am Looking For

Mathematical Maturity: A strong foundation in proof-based mathematics. You should be comfortable with probability theory, real analysis, or theoretical computer science.
Implementation Proficiency: While our work is theoretical, I expect researchers to be capable and efficient programmers. You must be able to implement, simulate, and validate algorithmic ideas.
Verbal Communication (English): You must be able to clearly articulate complex technical ideas and engage in rigorous real-time discussions.
AI Tool Mastery: I value productivity and efficiency. You are expected to be proficient in using modern AI tools (LLMs, coding assistants, automated workflows) to accelerate your research process.

What I Am NOT Looking For

This lab is likely not a fit for you if:

You are looking for a purely empirical/systems role without engaging in mathematical proofs.
You are looking for a "pencil-and-paper" role and are unwilling to write code.
You prefer traditional, manual workflows and are resistant to leveraging AI for research efficiency.

How to Apply

If you meet the criteria above, please send me an email (your first task is to figure out the correct email address) with the following:

Subject Line: Prospective PhD/Post-Doc: [Your Name]
Attachment: A current CV.
Content: A single paragraph (max 250 words) describing your specific research interests and how they align with my work.