UGA Statistics would like to share some exciting news from the Big Data Analytics Lab. Two of their papers were recognized at the STAI-X 2026 Conference (Statistics and Trustworthy AI for Cross-Domain Acceleration), held at Harvard University on July 31–August 1:

• Paper Award: “Wahkon: A Statistically Principled Deep RKHS Superposition Network”
• Paper Honorable Mention: “NeuroMAS: Multi-Agent Systems as Neural Networks with Joint Reinforcement Learning”

Dr. Ping Ma:

"We are very excited and honored to receive these recognitions. STAI-X brings together statistics and artificial intelligence with the goal of accelerating trustworthy cross-domain discovery, innovation, and real-world impact. This vision aligns especially well with the direction of our research and with UGA’s broader efforts to advance AI, data science, and interdisciplinary discovery.

I believe these awards are not only a wonderful recognition of the hard work and creativity of our students and collaborators, but also another indication of UGA’s growing leadership and visibility in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. It is particularly encouraging to see our work recognized at the intersection of statistical foundations, trustworthy AI, deep learning, and emerging areas such as multi-agent systems and reinforcement learning.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all of you. The progress of the Big Data Analytics Lab—and our ability to pursue innovative work at the forefront of statistics and AI—has benefited tremendously from the support of the Department, the College, and the University.

We are very grateful for your leadership and support, and we look forward to continuing to contribute to UGA’s growing strength and national visibility in artificial intelligence, statistics, and data science."