Hi! I’m a second-year PhD student at the Toyota Technological Institute at the University of Chicago. I’m always excited to tackle interesting problems, especially those involving substantial math and coding. You can reach me at chakarov [at] ttic [dot] edu.

My ever-evolving research interests include (in no particular order):

• Continuous and combinatorial optimization, with a focus on machine learning, deep learning, and theoretical computer science
• Statistical and computational learning theory
• Mechanism design and game theory

Previously, I earned my A.B. in Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science from Princeton University. At Princeton, I had the privilege of working with Matt Weinberg on combinatorial optimization for algorithmic mechanism design, and Yuri Pritykin on statistical and computational analysis of genomic data.

Before undergrad, I conducted research at the Research Science Institute at MIT, working in analytic and algebraic number theory with Yichi Zhang and David Vogan, and at the Summer Research School, where I worked on fully homomorphic encryption.

Outside of research, I enjoy running, writing, and print and web design, and have experience with freelance translation.