Dr. Oscar Leong was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and is of Mexican and Chinese heritage.
His maternal grandparents are from Chihuahua, Mexico, while his paternal grandmother is from Tijuana,
Mexico. His paternal grandfather immigrated from a small village in Guangdong, China, to Tijuana as a
young boy.

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As a high school student, Dr. Leong loved mathematics, but initially did not consider it for a major or
future career. While studying at Swarthmore College, he was introduced to mathematics research by his
mentor, Dr. Cheryl Grood, during his sophomore summer. He was incredibly intrigued by the research
process, and thoroughly enjoyed the freedom and excitement in generating his own solutions to unsolved
problems. He went on to major in mathematics and participated in various mathematical programs, such
as MSRI-UP and the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program. He earned his Ph.D. from Rice
University in Computational and Applied Mathematics in 2021 under the supervision of Dr. Paul Hand,
where he was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. While at Rice, he was fortunate to be mentored by Dr.
Richard Tapia, whose presence was a major factor in his decision to pursue his Ph.D. there. Dr. Leong
then became a von Karman Instructor in the Computing and Mathematical Sciences Department at
Caltech, hosted by Dr. Venkat Chandrasekaran. There, he also collaborated and worked with Dr.
Katherine L. Bouman and the Computational Cameras group. During his time at Caltech, he was selected
as a Rising Star in Data Science by the University of Chicago and received the MGB-SIAM Early Career
Fellowship. Since July 2024, Dr. Leong has been a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor of Statistics and
Data Science at UCLA.

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Dr. Leong’s research broadly lies at the intersection of machine learning, optimization, and geometry. He
is interested in questions concerning recovering data from corruption and how one can exploit or learn the
structure of such data to develop efficient algorithms for recovery. Dr. Leong is interested in both the
theory and application of machine learning to such problems, aiming to develop novel data-driven
algorithms with rigorous theoretical guarantees. He has also studied the application of such ideas to
problems in various scientific domains, such as astronomy and medical imaging.
Dr. Leong’s experience as a minority mathematician has been integral to his interest in supporting the
needs of students from underrepresented backgrounds. He has participated in various programs to
increase representation in higher education. For example, as a graduate student, he was the Lead
Instructor for the computer science curriculum for the Richard Tapia center for Excellence and Equity
STEM Summer Camp. He guided both students and high school teachers in Project Based Learning
projects centered around interesting or surprising ideas in computer science and mathematics, such as
how Netflix recommends movies or the mathematics behind stereo vision and self-driving cars. Dr.
Leong’s experience teaching undergraduates began in graduate school, where he served as a teaching
assistant at Rice University and later as a part-time lecturer in the Mathematics Department at
Northeastern University.

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He has contributed to increasing diversity in higher education in others ways. He has been a part of a
non-profit organization called Thrive Scholars, whose central goal is to increase diversity in higher
education and provide a support system for first-generation, low-income students from underrepresented
groups. As an alumnus, Dr. Leong has served the organization by being a teaching assistant for the
calculus summer program at USC to prepare students for college-level mathematics and through
participation in various career and education workshops. He has also served the organization as an
Alumni Trustee on the Boston branch of the board, helping to develop fundraising strategies, speak to
potential donors about his experience as a Thrive Scholar, and to discuss the importance of such
organizations to increase participation of underrepresented communities in higher education. He is
excited to continue teaching and mentoring the next generation of students in the mathematical sciences
at UCLA.

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“Hispanic Heritage Month is both a reminder and a celebration—a reminder of the challenges we've faced
and continue to overcome, and a celebration of our people's perseverance, creativity, strength, and
diversity. This resonates deeply as I reflect on my own family's heritage and lineage. I am profoundly
grateful for their sacrifices and in awe of how far we've come from our humble beginnings.”

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