Andrei Staicu

I am a first-year PhD student at the University of Illinois, where I am advised by Michael A. Forbes. My research interests are in theoretical computer science, specifically algebraic complexity theory, coding theory, and randomness in computation. I am interested in exploring the connections between algebraic geometry and computer science.

Previously, I was a research assistant at Laber Labs, advised by Eric Laber. I completed my B.S. at Caltech in Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science. I was fortunate to be advised by and work on research projects under the guidance of Leonard J. Schulman and Chris Umans.

Email: astaicu2 [at] illinois [dot] edu
Links: Google Scholar · GitHub · LinkedIn

Research

Identifiability of Product of Experts Models
with Spencer Gordon, Manav Kant, Eric Y Ma, and Leonard J Schulman · AISTATS 2024
PMLR | arXiv
Counting 7-Arcs in Projective Planes over Finite Fields
arXiv

Honors and Awards

Bhansali Family Prize in Computer Science 2024
Apostol Award for Excellence in Teaching in Mathematics 2023
Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship 2021, 2022, and 2023

A few photos I've taken on film:

Last updated: January 2026