Mirthe Maria van Diepen is a graduate student at the Radboud University Nijmegen in Causal Inference on Aortic Surgery and Alzheimer’s disease data. She completed a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Amsterdam. In her master thesis, the fields of graph theory, probability theory, and AI come together: in it, she analyzes and extends two (causal) ordering algorithms. Together with her supervisors, Tineke Blom and Joris Mooij, she continued working on this project resulting in the paper: Conditional independences and causal relations implied by sets of equations (JMLR, 2021).
Since the beginning of her master's, it was her goal to contribute to the field of machine learning theory - a dream that came true during her master’s thesis. She now strives to realize this aspiration to the field of applied Causal Inference and add to this exciting and vibrant area of research by bridging the gap between theory and practice.
She was born in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) in a family of artists. At an early age, she discovered her love for mathematics. She always likes to challenge herself and go on adventures by traveling to countries she hasn't seen yet. The next challenge will be a half triathlon!
Throughout her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, she developed strong analytical thinking and a creative mind, excelling in thinking out-of-the-box to solve complex problems. At her master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence, she learned how and under which circumstances to apply (machine learning) theory to real-world problems. More qualities that she acquired during her studies are a high work ethic, collaborating with fellow students/staff, and gaining an overview and theoretical understanding of many machine learning techniques/fields. Besides that, she has good interpersonal skills such as communication and responsibility.