Piotr Zwiernik is a Serra Húnter Distinguished Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and an Associate Research Professor at the Barcelona School of Economics (BSE). He is also the director of the BSE Data Science Center.
Before joining UPF, he held a Marie Skłodowska-Curie International Research Fellowship in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Genoa and the Department of Statistics at UC Berkeley. He previously taught at the University of Toronto, where he was a tenured Associate Professor.
Professor Zwiernik’s research explores the mathematical foundations of Statistics and high-dimensional statistical modeling, with a strong focus on capturing complex dependencies within multivariate data.
His work leverages the interface between algebra and geometry to develop theoretical tools for graphical models, covariance estimation, and singular learning theory. He develops novel methodologies, such as Entropic Covariance Models and Non-independent Component Analysis, for learning the structure of continuous and discrete data, and frequently contributes to projects involving tensor methods, Bayesian computation for Gaussian Graphical Models, and variable selection in statistical learning applications.
Zwiernik serves as Associate Editor for Biometrika; the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B; the Scandinavian Journal of Statistics; Journal of Algebraic Statistics.
Awards, Grants, and Honors
Fellow of The Institute of Mathematical Statistics (2024)
BSE Seed Grant, “Gaussian graphical models, total positivity, and Bayesian testing” (2018)