Publications

Learning to Answer from Correct Demonstrations

N. Joshi, G. Li, S. Bhandari, S. P. Kasiviswanathan, C. Ma, N. SrebroICLR, 2026Slides

Multi-Modal Contrastive Learning Adapts to Intrinsic Dimensions of Shared Latent Variables

Y. Gui, C. Ma, Z. MaNeurIPS, 2025

The Adaptivity Barrier in Batched Nonparametric Bandits: Sharp Characterization of the Price of Unknown Margin

R. Jiang, C. MaSlides

IndiSeek Learns Information-Guided Disentangled Representations

Y. Gui, C. Ma, Z. Ma

Estimating Shared Subspace with AJIVE: The Power and Limitation of Multiple Data Matrices

Y. Yang, C. MaSlides

2024

Random Pairing MLE for Estimation of Item Parameters in Rasch Model

Y. Yang, C. MaJournal of the American Statistical Association, 2025

Trans-Glasso: A Transfer Learning Approach to Precision Matrix Estimation

B. Zhao, C. Ma, M. KolarJournal of the American Statistical Association, 2025

Batched Nonparametric Contextual Bandits

R. Jiang, C. MaIEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2025Slides

Top-\(K\) Ranking with a Monotone Adversary

Y. Yang, A. Chen, L. Orecchia, C. MaCOLT, 2024

Off-Policy Estimation with Adaptively Collected Data: The Power of Online Learning

J. Lee, C. MaNeurIPS, 2024

Distributionally Robust Risk Evaluation with an Isotonic Constraint

Y. Gui, R. F. Barber, C. Ma

On the Design-Dependent Suboptimality of the Lasso

R. Pathak, C. MaCode

2023

Conformalized Matrix Completion

Y. Gui, R. F. Barber, C. MaNeurIPS, 2023Code

The Power of Preconditioning in Overparameterized Low-Rank Matrix Sensing

X. Xu, Y. Shen, Y. Chi, C. MaInformation and Inference: A Journal of the IMA, accepted in part to ICML, 2023Slides

High-Probability Sample Complexities for Policy Evaluation with Linear Function Approximation

G. Li, W. Wu, Y. Chi, C. Ma, A. Rinaldo, Y. WeiIEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2024

Maximum Likelihood Estimation is All You Need for Well-Specified Covariate Shift

J. Ge, S. Tang, J. Fan, C. Ma, C. JinICLR, 2024

Unraveling Projection Heads in Contrastive Learning: Insights from Expansion and Shrinkage

Y. Gui, C. Ma, Y. Zhong

2022

Optimally Tackling Covariate Shift in RKHS-Based Nonparametric Regression

C. Ma, R. Pathak, M. J. WainwrightAnnals of Statistics, 2023Slides

Optimal Tuning-Free Convex Relaxation for Noisy Matrix Completion

Y. Yang, C. MaIEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2023

Fast and Provable Tensor Robust Principal Component Analysis via Scaled Gradient Descent

H. Dong, T. Tong, C. Ma, Y. ChiInformation and Inference: A Journal of the IMA, 2023

R. Pathak, C. Ma, M. J. Wainwright (RP and CM contributed equally)ICML, 2022 (long presentation)

Jump-Start Reinforcement Learning

I. Uchendu, T. Xiao, Y. Lu, B. Zhu, M. Yan, J. Simon, M. Bennice, C. Fu, C. Ma, J. Jiao, S. Levine, K. HausmanICML, 2023

\(O(1/T)\) Convergence of Optimistic-Follow-the-Regularized-Leader in Two-Player Zero-Sum Markov Games

Y. Yang, C. MaICLR, 2023

Pessimism for Offline Linear Contextual Bandits using \(\ell_{p}\) Confidence Sets

G. Li, C. Ma, N. SrebroNeurIPS, 2022Poster

2021

Minimax Off-Policy Evaluation for Multi-Armed Bandits

C. Ma, B. Zhu, J. Jiao, M. J. WainwrightIEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2022Slides

Bridging Offline Reinforcement Learning and Imitation Learning: A Tale of Pessimism

P. Rashidinejad, B. Zhu, C. Ma, J. Jiao, S. RussellIEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2022, accepted in part to NeurIPS, 2021Slides

Scaling and Scalability: Provable Nonconvex Low-Rank Tensor Estimation from Incomplete Measurements

T. Tong, C. Ma, A. Prater-Bennette, E. Tripp, Y. ChiJournal of Machine Learning Research, 2022, accepted in part to AISTATS, 2022

Modern Data Modeling: Cross-Fertilization of the Two Cultures

J. Fan, C. Ma, K. Wang, Z. Zhu (alphabetical order)Observational Studies, 2021

2020

Spectral Methods for Data Science: A Statistical Perspective

Y. Chen, Y. Chi, J. Fan, C. Ma (alphabetical order)Foundations and Trends® in Machine Learning, 2021

Bridging Convex and Nonconvex Optimization in Robust PCA: Noise, Outliers, and Missing Data

Y. Chen, J. Fan, C. Ma, Y. Yan (alphabetical order)Annals of Statistics, 2021

Learning Mixtures of Low-Rank Models

Y. Chen, C. Ma, H. V. Poor, Y. ChenIEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2021

Low-Rank Matrix Recovery with Scaled Subgradient Methods: Fast and Robust Convergence Without the Condition Number

T. Tong, C. Ma, Y. ChiIEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 2021

Accelerating Ill-Conditioned Low-Rank Matrix Estimation via Scaled Gradient Descent

T. Tong, C. Ma, Y. ChiJournal of Machine Learning Research, 2021

Comment on “A Tuning-Free Robust and Efficient Approach to High-Dimensional Regression”

J. Fan, C. Ma, K. Wang (alphabetical order)Journal of the American Statistical Association, 2020

2019

Inference and Uncertainty Quantification for Noisy Matrix Completion

Y. Chen, J. Fan, C. Ma, Y. Yan (alphabetical order)Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019Slides

A Selective Overview of Deep Learning

J. Fan, C. Ma, Y. Zhong (alphabetical order)Statistical Science, 2020

Noisy Matrix Completion: Understanding Statistical Guarantees for Convex Relaxation via Nonconvex Optimization

Y. Chen, Y. Chi, J. Fan, C. Ma, Y. Yan (alphabetical order)SIAM Journal on Optimization, 2020Slides

Beyond Procrustes: Balancing-Free Gradient Descent for Asymmetric Low-Rank Matrix Sensing

C. Ma, Y. Li, Y. ChiIEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 2021, accepted in part to Asilomar 2019

2018

Gradient Descent with Random Initialization: Fast Global Convergence for Nonconvex Phase Retrieval

Y. Chen, Y. Chi, J. Fan, C. Ma (alphabetical order)Mathematical Programming, 2019Slides

Nonconvex Matrix Factorization from Rank-One Measurements

Y. Li, C. Ma, Y. Chen, Y. ChiIEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2021, accepted in part to AISTATS, 2019

2017

Implicit Regularization in Nonconvex Statistical Estimation: Gradient Descent Converges Linearly for Phase Retrieval, Matrix Completion, and Blind Deconvolution

C. Ma, K. Wang, Y. Chi, Y. ChenFoundations of Computational Mathematics, 2020, accepted in part to ICML, 2018Slides

Spectral Method and Regularized MLE Are Both Optimal for Top-\(K\) Ranking

Y. Chen, J. Fan, C. Ma, K. Wang (alphabetical order)Annals of Statistics, 2019Slides

Inter-Subject Analysis: A Partial Gaussian Graphical Model Approach

C. Ma, J. Lu, H. LiuJournal of American Statistical Association, 2021Slides

2015

Fast and Flexible Top-\(K\) Similarity Search on Large Networks

J. Zhang, J. Tang, C. Ma, H. Tong, Y. Jing, J. Li, W. Luyten, M. MoensACM Transactions on Information Systems, 2017, accepted in part to KDD, 2015