Senior Applied Scientist · AWS GenAI Innovation Center

Jae Oh Woo

Reliable Reasoning, Calibration, and Uncertainty for AI Systems

I develop principled methods for evaluating and improving LLM reasoning, with a focus on self-evaluation, uncertainty, and mathematically grounded reliability.

Selected Work CV (Upon Request) Google Scholar
Jae Oh Woo

Senior Applied Scientist

GenAI Innovation Center, AWS

Ph.D. Applied Mathematics, Yale

2026

2025

  • Accepted LLM self-evaluation via VC framework at NeurIPS 2025 Workshop.
  • Talk INV506 — Known Unknowns: Bayesian Multi-Path Framework for Uncertainty in LLMs at AWS re:Invent with Baishali Chaudhury.
  • Talk INV508 — LLMs Reflecting on Their Reasoning: A Probabilistic VC-Theory Approach at AWS re:Invent with Mengdie Flora Wang.
  • Workshop SPS301 — Robo Reviewer: Building AI Video Evaluators with Amazon Bedrock at AWS re:Invent with Haochen Xie, Mengdie Flora Wang, Baishali Chaudhury, Chun-Hao Liu.

2024

  • Accepted Instruction following via uncertainty estimation at ICML 2024.

2023

  • Award Samsung Best Paper Award, Gold Prize.
  • Service Selected as NeurIPS 2023 Top Reviewer.

I study how AI systems reason, quantify uncertainty, and improve under limited supervision. At AWS, I develop methods that make large language models more reliable, better calibrated, and grounded in principled foundations.

My research combines mathematical rigor with practical AI systems — spanning LLM self-evaluation, Bayesian uncertainty, active learning, and information-theoretic foundations.

Before AWS, I worked at Samsung SDS Research America and Moody’s Analytics. I hold a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Yale, a B.S. in Mathematics from KAIST, and was a Simons Postdoctoral Fellow at UT Austin.

My goal is to bridge mathematical rigor and real-world AI systems in ways that make advanced models more trustworthy and useful.

LLM Reasoning & Self-Evaluation

Measuring when LLMs can evaluate their own reasoning — logical consistency, self-correction, and verification.

self-correctionlogical consistencyverification
Featured: Can LLMs Reliably Evaluate Themselves?

Uncertainty & Calibration

Calibration, confidence, and reliability under limited supervision — Bayesian and information-theoretic approaches.

uncertaintyactive learningreliability
Featured: Balanced Entropy Active Learning

Mathematical Foundations

Information theory, entropy, Bayesian learning, and VC-style analysis — rigorous foundations for learning and inference.

information theoryentropylearning theory
Featured: Analytic Mutual Information in BNNs
EACL 2026 Findings

Reflect, Rewrite, Repeat: How Simple Arithmetic Enables Advanced Reasoning in Small Language Models

Problem Small LMs lack the reasoning capabilities of large models.
Method Iterative self-reflection on simple arithmetic bootstraps advanced reasoning.
Impact Small models can develop sophisticated reasoning without large-scale pretraining.
MF Wang, H Xie, MY Kim, B Chaudhury, M Ashok, S Gunturu, S Hong, JO Woo, ...
NeurIPS 2025 Workshop

Can LLMs Reliably Evaluate Themselves? A Probabilistic VC Framework

Problem It is unclear when LLM self-evaluation can be trusted.
Method VC-theoretic analysis to bound the reliability of self-assessment.
Impact A principled way to measure when LLMs can trust their own judgments.
JO Woo, MF Wang, R Ghosh, B Chaudhury, MY Kim
ICML 2024

Improving Instruction Following in Language Models through Proxy-Based Uncertainty Estimation

Problem LLMs inconsistently follow instructions, especially under ambiguity.
Method Proxy-based uncertainty estimation to improve instruction adherence.
Impact Enhanced LLM reliability without retraining the base model.
J Lee, JO Woo, J Seok, P Hassanzadeh, W Jang
ICLR 2023 Top 25%

Active Learning in Bayesian Neural Networks with Balanced Entropy Learning Principle

Problem Standard acquisition functions are biased toward high or low entropy.
Method Balanced entropy principle for more effective data acquisition.
Impact Principled active learning under limited supervision in BNNs.
JO Woo
Presenting Balanced Entropy at ICLR 2023
IEEE ISIT 2022

Analytic Mutual Information in Bayesian Neural Networks

Problem Mutual information in BNNs requires expensive approximation.
Method Derives a closed-form expression via information-theoretic analysis.
Impact Bridges information theory foundations with practical deep learning.
JO Woo

See all publications ↓

I occasionally write about the principles behind reliable AI systems — reasoning, uncertainty, calibration, and the gap between benchmark performance and trustworthy deployment.

Also on Google Scholar.

  1. 2026

    From Debate to Decision: Conformal Social Choice for Safe Multi-Agent Deliberation

    MF Wang, H Xie, G Wang, A Gao, G Yang, Z Li, QW Qiu, F Han, H Qiu, ... · Preprint arXiv

  2. 2026

    Quantifying Consistency in LLM Logical Reasoning via Structural Uncertainty

    B Chaudhury, MF Wang, HH Park, R Ghosh, S Hong, JO Woo · ICLR 2026 Workshop paper

  3. 2026

    Reflect, Rewrite, Repeat: How Simple Arithmetic Enables Advanced Reasoning in Small Language Models

    MF Wang, H Xie, MY Kim, B Chaudhury, M Ashok, S Gunturu, S Hong, ... · EACL 2026 Findings Paper Code

  4. 2025

    Can LLMs Reliably Evaluate Themselves? A Probabilistic VC Framework

    JO Woo, MF Wang, R Ghosh, B Chaudhury, MY Kim · NeurIPS 2025 Workshop paper

  5. 2024

    Improving Instruction Following in Language Models through Proxy-Based Uncertainty Estimation

    J Lee, JO Woo, J Seok, P Hassanzadeh, W Jang · ICML 2024 ICML arXiv Code

  6. 2024

    Bayesian Active Learning for Semantic Segmentation

    S Didari, W Hu, JO Woo, H Hao, H Moon, S Min · Preprint arXiv

  7. 2023

    Unsupervised Accuracy Estimation of Deep Visual Models using Domain-Adaptive Adversarial Perturbation without Source Samples

    JH Lee, JO Woo, H Moon, K Lee · ICCV 2023 ICCV arXiv

  8. 2023

    Active Learning in Bayesian Neural Networks with Balanced Entropy Learning Principle

    JO Woo · ICLR 2023 ICLR arXiv Code

  9. 2023

    Unsupervised Contrastive Representation Learning for 3D Mesh Segmentation

    A Haque, H Moon, H Hao, S Didari, JO Woo, P Bangert · AAAI 2023

  10. 2022

    Analytic Mutual Information in Bayesian Neural Networks

    JO Woo · IEEE ISIT 2022 IEEE arXiv

  11. 2022

    Medical Image Labeling via Active Learning is 90% Effective

    P Bangert, H Moon, JO Woo, S Didari, H Hao · FICC 2022

  12. 2022

    Verifying Measures of Quantum Entropy

    GC Pastor, JO Woo · Applied Mathematics

  13. 2021

    Active Learning Performance in Labeling Radiology Images is 90% Effective

    P Bangert, H Moon, JO Woo, S Didari, H Hao · Frontiers in Radiology

  14. 2021

    Highly Efficient Representation and Active Learning Framework for Imbalanced Medical Image Classification

    H Hao, H Moon, S Didari, JO Woo, P Bangert · NeurIPS Workshop 2021

  15. 2021

    PatchNet: Unsupervised Object Discovery Based on Patch Embedding

    H Moon, H Hao, S Didari, JO Woo, P Bangert · Preprint

  16. 2019

    Majorization and Rényi Entropy Inequalities via Sperner Theory

    M Madiman, L Wang, JO Woo · Discrete Mathematics

  17. 2018

    On the Steady State of Continuous Time Stochastic Opinion Dynamics

    F Baccelli, S Vishwanath, JO Woo · Journal of Applied Probability

  18. 2018

    Entropy Inequalities for Sums in Prime Cyclic Groups

    M Madiman, L Wang, JO Woo · SIAM J. Discrete Mathematics

  19. 2017

    An Analytical Framework for Modeling a Spatially Repulsive Cellular Network

    CS Choi, JO Woo, JG Andrews · IEEE Trans. Communications

  20. 2017

    On the Coverage Probability of a Spatially Correlated Network

    CS Choi, JO Woo, JG Andrews · IEEE ISIT 2017

  21. 2016

    On the Entropy and Mutual Information of Point Processes

    F Baccelli, JO Woo · IEEE ISIT 2016

  22. 2015

    A Discrete Entropy Power Inequality for Uniform Distributions

    JO Woo, M Madiman · IEEE ISIT 2015

  23. 2015

    Information Theoretic Inequalities, Limit Theorems, and Universal Compression over Unknown Alphabets

    JO Woo · Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University

  24. 2014

    A Lower Bound on the Rényi Entropy of Convolutions in the Integers

    L Wang, JO Woo, M Madiman · IEEE ISIT 2014

  25. 2014

    Redundancy of Exchangeable Estimators

    NP Santhanam, AD Sarwate, JO Woo · Entropy

  26. 2009

    A Note on Preconditioning by Low-Stretch Spanning Trees

    DA Spielman, JO Woo · Preprint

Available for research collaboration, invited talks, and selected consulting on LLM reasoning, uncertainty, and evaluation.

jaeoh.woo@aya.yale.edu →