Junpei Komiyama

Junpei Komiyama

Assistant Professor at MBZUAI. Research: Machine Learning, Multi-armed Bandits, Monte Carlo Tree Search, Algorithmic Bias

Join My Research Group

Welcome! I am always looking for motivated graduate students to join my team. My research group focuses on Machine Learning Methodology, with particular emphasis on Multi-armed Bandits, Stochastic Search and Reasoning, Mechanism Design, and Algorithmic Bias.

Why Join Our Research Group?

Starting a research career can be challenging, and choosing the right advisor and collaborators is crucial for your success. Here’s what makes our research group unique:

What We Offer

  • Theory and Practice Balance: I work on both theoretical foundations and practical applications in machine learning methodology. You can explore both directions and focus on what fits your interests and strengths.
  • Dedicated Mentorship: As I am starting a new lab at MBZUAI, I can spend more focused time with you compared to larger, established labs. This is particularly important when you’re beginning your research journey.
  • Cutting-Edge Research: Access to state-of-the-art research in machine learning with opportunities to publish in top-tier venues (NeurIPS, ICML, AISTATS, etc.).
  • Dual Advisory System: You can work with both me and senior advisors at MBZUAI, providing you with diverse perspectives and expertise.

What We Look For

Essential Qualities

The most important quality I (and any other professors!) seek is genuine passion for research. Next to that, I believe the most important skill is the ability to identify what you know and what you do not know. Most successful research projects progress step by step, and to understand the next step, it is extremely important to know where we are at the current stage. Beyond that, successful research requires:

Technical Skills

  • Mathematical Foundation: Linear algebra, probability, statistics, and optimization
  • Programming Abilities: ML relies on Python, but I also like low-level languages like C as well as functional programming languages (OCaml, Haskell).
  • Research Skills: Ability to read research papers (both quickly for broad understanding and deeply for detailed analysis)

Research Areas of Interest

If you are interested in any of these topics, they align well with my research:

  • Statistical testing and hypothesis testing
  • Learning under uncertainty (UCB algorithms, Thompson sampling)
  • Monte Carlo tree search and stochastic optimization
  • Reasoning in large language models
  • Algorithmic fairness and bias mitigation

Note for Prospective PhD Students: If you haven’t determined your specific research topics yet, that’s perfectly fine! Exploration is an important part of the PhD journey, and I encourage students to explore different areas before specializing.

Current Research Projects

We are actively working on several exciting research directions:

  • Reasoning in large language models
  • Multi-armed bandit and best arm identification algorithms
  • Econometric machine learning methods
  • Fair machine learning