• This website continues to be under construction -- if you can't find something here, please also try my old website.

     

    Interests

    I am excited about methods to turn data into actionable knowledge:  How can we design robust, principled models to combine complex data sets with other knowledge sources?  How can we design models that summarize and generate hypotheses from such data?  How can we characterize the uncertainty in large, heterogeneous data to provide better support for decisions?   In my group, we use probabilistic methods to address these questions.  

     

    I am interested in a range of research areas from core machine learning to healthcare and other applications:

    • Interpretable models for characterizing patterns from data (e.g. phenotyping disease and disease progression from healthcare records)

    • Probabilistic modeling and inference (especially Bayesian models)

    • Decision-making under uncertainty (especially sequential decision-making)

    Short Bio

    Finale Doshi-Velez is an assistant professor in Computer Science at the Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.  She completed her MSc from the University of Cambridge as a Marshall Scholar, her PhD from MIT, and her postdoc at Harvard Medical School.  Her interests lie at the intersection of machine learning, healthcare, and interpretablity.

    Getting in touch

    In person: My office hours are generally 3:30-4:30 on Wednesdays.  When I have my office hour, please come in (don't wait outside!!) even if other people are inside.  I will ask everyone about what they want to discuss, and discuss similar topics together.  I usually give class-related questions first priority, then switch over to general topics and then back again.  If you have a form that needs signing, just interrupt.  Please note my new office, Science Center 316.04.  November 14, 2018: OH will be 3:50-4:30.

    Email: I get a lot of email, and my inbox is generally an absolute disaster.  Unfortunately, many times I don't even have a chance to read all my email.  Please help me by reading my website first, having an informative subject line, and pinging again if you feel like I might have lost your mail.  Office hours don't require an email first, and are a great time to also catch me in person.

    Phone: I don't have an office phone any more.  Please email or stop by in person.

    Scheduling a qual, mini-qual, PhD defense, Master's defense, etc.

    I get a lot of requests, and I am both eager to be part of this important milestone and also going crazy with scheduling.  Thus, I am now offering to be part your qual, mini-qual, PhD defense, Master's defense, or similar type of event at three sets of dates each year, roughly fall, winter, and spring.  For 2018-2019, these will be: September 17 and 18; January 21 and 22, and May 20 and 21.  The Monday slots will be 11-1, 1-3, and 3-4:30; the Tuesday slots will be 8-10, 10-12, 12-2, and 2-4.  [January 21 3-4:30 , January 22 8-10, 10-12 , May 21 10-12, 12-2, May 20 1-3 is taken.]