I’m Carlos, an incoming PhD student in Statistics at Columbia University. I transferred from the PhD program in Applied Mathematics at Brown University (earning a terminal ScM in Applied Mathematics), and prior to this I completed an MSc in Mathematical Sciences at the University of Oxford and a BSc at Imperial College London, also in Mathematics.

I was born in Coimbra, Portugal to a Portuguese father and a Spanish mother of Catalan origin, and I grew up in Madrid. I am a Portuguese and Spanish dual citizen.

(Due to some differences in Spanish & Portuguese naming conventions, I also use the name Carlos Alberto Perello Mota Pinto.)

Research

Broadly speaking, I am interested in applying Analysis and Probability to develop new robust statistical tools, and understanding the theory underpinning said algorithms. I draw most of my inspiration from the realms of integrable probability, optimal transport, and statistical mechanics. Optimal transport, in particular, has been a great interest of mine for quite some time now, due to its applications in both theory and practice. In addition, I am also intersted in studying algorithms for stochastic optimisation, such as optimising over random functions arising from Spin Glass theory and disordered systems, as these have applications in machine learning and statistical physics (such as graph cutting problems). In terms of applications, I am particularly drawn to applying these ideas to problems in mathematical finance, machine learning and control theory.

I wrote my MSc dissertation on the optimal matching problem and its connection to optimal transport; I was very lucky to be supervised by Prof James Martin. Before this, I wrote my BSc project on importance sampling, where I was fortunate to work alongside Prof Ömer Deniz Akyildiz.

Mentors

Some of the people I have had the pleasure to meet and have helped me to become the mathematician I am today are listed below. I am extremely grateful for their support and guidance. I am also thankful to all the people who have assisted me along the way and I have not mentioned here.

• Prof Oliver Ratmann (Imperial College London)
• Prof Ömer Deniz Akyildiz (Imperial College London)
• Prof Francesco Sanna Passino (Imperial College London)
• Prof Promit Ghosal (Met at MIT, now at UChicago)
• Prof Dan Mikulincer (MIT)
• Prof Patrícia Gonçalves (IST Lisbon)
• Prof James Martin (University of Oxford)
• Prof Marcel Nutz (Columbia University)