PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ahmed El Alaoui

Ahmed El Alaoui is a statistics and machine-learning researcher whose work connects high-dimensional inference, algorithms, and statistical physics. He studied applied mathematics at École Polytechnique, completed an M.Sc. in mathematics, vision and learning, and earned a Ph.D. at UC Berkeley in 2018. His papers developed randomized kernel methods and studied spike detection. Later, he connected free-energy methods with computational-hardness theory and proposed a statistical-physics-inspired hierarchy for tensor PCA. He joined Cornell in 2021 and is an assistant professor of statistics and data science there.

Timeline

  1. 2009–2013

    Applied math and learning degrees

    He studies applied mathematics at École Polytechnique and earns an engineering diploma in 2012. From 2012 to 2013, he completes an M.Sc. in Mathématiques, Vision et Apprentissage at École Normale Supérieure and École des Ponts ParisTech.

  2. November 2014

    Randomized kernel ridge regression

    In November 2014, he and Michael W. Mahoney post Fast randomized kernel ridge regression with statistical guarantees. Their approach builds a small sketch of the input for faster kernel learning.

  3. 2018

    A Berkeley doctorate

    In 2018, he earns a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer sciences from UC Berkeley, advised by Michael I. Jordan.

  4. 2018

    Spiked matrix detection limits

    With Michael I. Jordan, he studies detection of a single spike in high-dimensional rectangular data in a 2018 COLT paper. The paper analyzes the likelihood ratio and reports asymptotically Gaussian fluctuations in a region below the BBP threshold.

  5. November 2020

    A Richard M. Karp fellowship

    In November 2020, he is a Richard M. Karp Research Fellow at UC Berkeley's Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing.

  6. By 2021

    A Stanford postdoc

    By 2021, he works as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford, hosted by Andrea Montanari.

  7. 2022

    A NeurIPS paper on hardness

    With Afonso S. Bandeira, Samuel Hopkins, Tselil Schramm, Alexander S. Wein, and Ilias Zadik, he publishes The Franz-Parisi criterion and computational trade-offs in high-dimensional statistics at NeurIPS in 2022. The paper connects free-energy methods to low-degree hardness for high-dimensional inference.

  8. 2025

    Kikuchi algorithms for tensor PCA

    With Alexander S. Wein and Cristopher Moore, he proposes a hierarchy of increasingly powerful algorithms for tensor PCA, inspired by statistical physics. The paper appears in the Journal of the ACM in 2025.

  9. Since 2021

    Assistant professor at Cornell

    He joins Cornell in 2021 as an assistant professor of Statistics and Data Science and focuses on high-dimensional statistics, machine learning, algorithms, and statistical physics.

Career

  1. Since 2021Cornell UniversityAssistant Professor of Statistics and Data Science
  2. University of California, BerkeleyRichard M. Karp Research Fellow
  3. Stanford UniversityPostdoctoral researcher

Education

  1. 2018University of California, BerkeleyPh.D. in electrical engineering and computer sciences
  2. 2013École Normale SupérieureM.Sc. in Mathématiques, Vision et Apprentissage
  3. 2013École des Ponts ParisTechM.Sc. in Mathématiques, Vision et Apprentissage
  4. 2012École PolytechniqueEngineering diploma

From the biography.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Ahmed El Alaoui elalaoui.stat.cornell.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Fast Randomized Kernel Ridge Regression with Statistical Guarantees arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Ahmed El Alaoui | Department of Computer Science | Cornell Bowers cs.cornell.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Detection limits in the high-dimensional spiked rectangular model proceedings.mlr.press. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. From the Inside: Probability, Geometry, and Computation in High Dimensions simons.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Ahmed El Alaoui | Cornell Bowers bowers.cornell.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. The Franz-Parisi Criterion and Computational Trade-offs in High Dimensional Statistics proceedings.neurips.cc. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. The Kikuchi hierarchy and tensor PCA - MaRDI portal portal.mardi4nfdi.de. Checked 27 October 2026.
  9. The Kikuchi Hierarchy and Tensor PCA arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  10. Ahmed El Alaoui | Department of Statistics & Data Science | Cornell Bowers stat.cornell.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.