Jonas Mikhaeil

Ph.D. student in Statistics · Columbia University

Jonas Mikhaeil

I am a Ph.D. student in Statistics at Columbia University, advised by Michael Sobel and Andrew Gelman. I develop statistical methodology for the social sciences and apply these methods to pressing societal issues. The guiding principle for my work is that sound statistical methodology grows out of an interplay between statistical theory and domain substance. This requires engagement with the conceptual and philosophical foundations of the substantive problem under study while maintaining theoretical rigor.

My research focuses on inequality and causal inference. In my work on measuring inequality between groups, I draw on the longstanding literature on income inequality and justice, in combination with the theory of optimal transport, to develop a principled measure of inequality between groups. My work on causal inference develops more efficient and credible inference approaches, including improved variance estimation in randomized experiments and valid inference after testing the plausibility of parallel trends in difference-in-differences.

Research

Causal inference · Social statistics · Inequality

Working papers

Published papers

Discussion contributions

Teaching

Columbia University

Calculus-Based Introduction to Statistics

Instructor of record · STAT S1201

Summer 2025

Lecture notes: An Introduction to Statistics (PDF)

A historical and conceptual introduction to statistics

Draft · 66 pages · (updated )

I have also served as a teaching assistant for courses in causal inference, applied statistics, linear regression, statistical inference, and quantitative methods. The full list is in my CV.