Sam Zhang's research focuses on understanding causality in real-world complex social systems, especially when it comes to social inequalities and human rights. He aims to understand the actual mechanisms that drive undesirable outcomes, and quantify the degree to which those outcomes are driven by random fluctuations. To do this, Sam studies complex empirical datasets using techniques that span statistics, computer science, and mathematics..

At SFI, Sam will be working with Professor Cris Moore on untangling and identifying racial disparities in the criminal justice system, as well as following up on algorithmic work with collaborator Rayna Benzeev, where they have developed novel causal inference methods based on network structures to identify the causes of deforestation in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. Sam will also continue ongoing work with SFI external faculty Aaron Clauset on studying inequalities in the academic system. Recently, they have been especially interested in the challenges of designing experiments on large-scale complex systems like academia to pinpoint causality in a way that is infeasible with observational data alone.

Sam's work has appeared in high-profile journals such as Nature, Science Advances, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Nature Communications. He has been recognized for his achievements as a University of Chicago Rising Star in Data Science, and will begin in Fall 2025 as an Assistant Professor of Statistics at the Complex Systems Center at the University of Vermont. He received his PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship..

Justin Weltz

Chris Wood

Henry Wright

Andrea Wulf

Sam Zhang

Yuanzhao Zhang