iiD Faculty Receive Grant to Foster Interdisciplinary Community in Mathematics and Statistics

The Duke Office of the Provost has awarded Intellectual Community Planning Grants to ten faculty-led projects across eight Duke schools, as well as collaborations with colleagues at UNC-Chapel Hill, NC Central University, and NC State University.
Among the recipients is a team of Duke faculty members in the Information Initiative at Duke (iiD). Professors Xiuyuan Cheng, Jianfeng Lu, and Galen Reeves have partnered with Statistics Professor Sifan Liu on a project titled “Generative Modeling and Sampling: An Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Mathematics and Statistics.”
The initiative aims to establish a new interdisciplinary faculty community at Duke that brings together researchers in mathematics and statistics to explore emerging sampling methodologies inspired by advances in generative modeling and artificial intelligence. By fostering collaboration across departments, the project will create opportunities for researchers to exchange ideas, develop new partnerships, and advance foundational research at the intersection of mathematical theory, statistical methods, and data science. “Learning how AI works and understanding it will help us make AI more responsive to society’s needs,” says Jonathan Mattingly, director of Rhodes iiD and the Kimberly J. Jenkins Distinguished University Professor of New Technologies.
The group came together after this past year’s PopUp Institutes hosted by Rhodes iiD. The PopUp Institutes bring together faculty and researchers from around the university to discuss new applications in AI and machine learning. The interdisciplinary approach fosters new ideas and collaborations between faculty who would otherwise not meet but are working on relatable problems.
The Intellectual Community Planning Grants provide funding for activities that help launch and strengthen scholarly communities, including workshops, seminars, external speakers, meeting venues, research materials, and exploratory efforts to identify future collaborators.
The grant program supports Duke’s strategic vision of empowering innovative thinkers to address complex challenges through bold, interdisciplinary approaches. By creating new connections across fields, these planning grants help lay the groundwork for future research initiatives and transformative discoveries.

Lead: Xiuyuan Cheng, Professor of Mathematics
Core Members: Jianfeng Lu, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics; Galen Reeves, Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Statistical Science; Sifan Liu, Assistant Professor of Statistical Science