Ricardo Masini is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of California, Davis. Before joining UC Davis, he was a Researcher at the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning (CSML) at Princeton University and an Affiliate Professor of Economics at the São Paulo School of Economics at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (EESP-FGV).
His research spans mathematical statistics, theoretical econometrics, decision science, and the statistical foundation of machine learning. As part of his research agenda, Ricardo has developed novel procedures for causal inference in a high-dimensional setup, which naturally arises in the context of big data applications. He is also interested in non/semi-parametric estimation and functional data analysis.
Ricardo has been teaching data science-related subjects, including statistics, probability, big data and machine learning techniques, Bayesian econometrics, and time series analysis at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He is passionate about teaching and has been doing so since high school.
He earned a Ph.D. in Economics (with honors) in 2016 from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and an M.Sc. in Economics in 2011 from the London School of Economics (LSE). He also completed an MBA (finance major) at INSEAD in 2008 and a B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of São Paulo in 2002. Before his academic experience, he worked in the aerospace industry, managerial consulting, and finance.
Ricardo is a computer programming enthusiast and a math lover. He also enjoys Heavy Metal, TV series, movies, cooking, and a good beer (IPA). He was born and raised in Brazil. He is married to Vanessa Figaro, and they have two daughters, Gabriela (born 2014) and Julia (born 2016), and a dog, Seu Jorge (born 2013).