About me
I am Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Dartmouth College. My research interests include Bayesian statistics, Monte Carlo methods, differential privacy, and applied statistics. Prior to Dartmouth, I completed my Ph.D. in Statistics at Harvard University and B.A. in Mathematics and Physics from Wellesley College.
My Chinese name is 鞠念桥 and you can also call me Phyllis. You can contact me at nianqiao DOT ju AT dartmouth DOT edu.
I take Ph.D. students in Dartmouth’s math/applied math as well as the computational science and modeling programs.
Education
Ph.D. in Statistics
2016-09-01
2021-05-31
Harvard University
B.A. in Mathematics & Physics
2012-09-01
2016-05-31
Wellesley College
Interests
Bayesian statistics
Computational statistics & data augmentation
Data privacy
Computational biology
News
- New NSF award ‘Efficient Bayesian Computations for Inference from Privatized Data’ starts in September 2026.
- The Fall 2026 season of Online Monte Carlo Seminar is returning soon. Stay tuned and follow our YouTube channel.
- Honored to receive the 2025 Blackwell-Rosenbluth Award by International Society for Bayesian Analysis.
Featured Publications
(2025).
Spectral gap bounds for reversible hybrid Gibbs chains.
AoS.
(2024).
SNP-Slice: A Bayesian nonparametric framework to resolve SNP haplotypes in mixed infections.
Bioinformatics.
(2022).
Data Augmentation MCMC for Bayesian Inference from Privatized Data.
NeurIPS 2022.
Recent Publications
(2026).
Statistical Properties of Nonparametric MLE under Laplace Noise.
Arxiv preprint.
(2025).
Learning mixed-infection strains from older hosts: a new sampling scheme for malaria epidemiology and population genetics.
MedRxiv preprint.
(2025).
SOMA: A Novel Sampler for Bayesian Inference from Privatized Data.
Arxiv preprint.
Grants
- NSF-DMS, Efficient Bayesian Computations for Inference from Privatized Data September 2026 - August 2029.
- NIH-NIAID, Systems biology to predict progression and treatment response in NTM pulmonary infections (subaward from Mayo Clinic). July 2024 - June 2029.
- Showalter Trust Young Investigator Award, Purdue University. July 2023 - June 2024.
- Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) pilot program, Indiana CTSI. May 2022 - April 2023.
Awards
Blackwell-Rosenbluth Award
International Society for Bayesian Analysis ∙
November 2025
Department of Statistics Undergraduate Advising Award
Purdue University College of Science ∙
July 2023
IMS Hannan Graduate Student Travel Award
Institute of Mathematical Statistics ∙
April 2020
Bok Center Certificate of Distinction in Teaching
Harvard University ∙
September 2018
Awarded to teaching assistants who receive student evaluations higher than 4.5 out of 5. Won three times: fall 2018, spring 2019, and fall 2020.