December 2024 Newsletter
Greetings!
The School of Statistics is in an exciting time of change. We’re embracing new challenges and opportunities to build a bright future for our faculty, students, and community. As we step into a year full of new developments, the School and IRSA are looking forward to the transformations ahead.
New Academic Pathways & Student Opportunities
New Data Science Track
This fall, we’re excited to launch the new data science sub-plan (or track) within the BA in statistical practice. This subplan offers undergraduates a fresh pathway into the ever-evolving field of data science, empowering them with the skills to thrive in data-centric roles across industries.
Undergrad Engagement
Student engagement is flourishing with activities like Stat-Club events, Undergraduate Reading Group, and student-led seminars. These groups provide students with a supportive environment to explore interests, share knowledge, and gain practical experience beyond the classroom.
Stat-Club Report
In fall 2024, our undergraduate statistics club (Stat-Club) welcomed four new officers: Kate Melchert as president, Alexander Fettig as treasurer, Ben Steen as secretary, and Gia Quyen Tran as public relations officer. These enthusiastic new leaders, along with previous statistics club officers Branda Leung as social media coordinator and Krishna Ashok as vice president, have coordinated a mix of social and professional development events to make students feel connected to the statistics community and prepare for life after graduation.
This November, the club hosted two guest speakers from Travelers Insurance’s Business Insights & Analytics Leadership Development Program, who shared valuable industry tips and helped members refine their resumes. We also held a fun-filled game night where students shared their favorite games and showcased their competitive statistical strategies (in good spirits, of course)!
Next semester we’re looking forward to a research presentation from Dr. Sara Algeri of the UMN School of Statistics and a workshop with local consulting firm Foresight. We’re eager to welcome more new students to our events and can’t wait to see what’s next!
Undergraduate Reading Group Report
We had 5 different reading groups running this semester:
- Rank-based methods (Robert Oliver VandenBerg)
- MCMC (Ben Lewis)
- Bio/astrostatistics (Alex Kuhn and HJ Koo)
- Sports statistics (Lucas Libero)
- Probability theory (Jingkai Cui)
Each group had 2 to 4 participants and discussed papers related to their topic. The goal of these meetings is to expose undergrads to more advanced topics in statistics and provide mentorship. It also gives graduate students the chance to learn more about and teach an area of interest.
One group's favorite discussion was on Phong Dao's "On Wilcoxon rank sum test for condition monitoring and fault detection of wind turbines." The reason that the discussion was a favorite "was that this paper also had some flaws that made for interesting discussion. For instance, they interpreted the Wilcoxon rank sum test as a test for medians which requires an additional assumption that doesn't hold in this setting. That said, the interesting question is in this applied setting do they care? Because it turns out that the interpretation that doesn't require that assumption would be good enough for the application."
IRSA at the Forefront of Data Science
IRSA (Institute for Research in Statistics and its Applications) proudly sponsored the Women in AI and Data Science (WiADS) conference hosted by the University of Minnesota Data Science Initiative (DSi) on November 4. This conference, as well as IRSA’s annual conference in May 2025, underscore our commitment to promoting inclusion, collaboration, and thought leadership in data science.
Looking forward to another May conference as we look ahead to the spring!
A Year of Transition & Recognition
We recently celebrated the promotions of our colleagues Dr. Kazeem Adepoju and Dr. Sara Algeri.
This year, we’re also celebrating the contributions of long-standing faculty members as they transition into retirement. Professors Yuhong Yang and Tiefeng Jiang have been pivotal to the growth of our department and will be greatly missed.
Leadership Changes & New Faces
With transitions also come new beginnings. We welcome Dr. Lu Yang as interim director of IRSA (Institute for Research in Statistics and its Applications) and look forward to the addition of new board members soon.
We are excited to welcome Dr. Sara Algeri as the new director of undergraduate studies. She will be leading the way in supporting and guiding our students in the department.
We are also excited to have Anna Axell on board as the new events and communications manager, who has been instrumental in enhancing our communications and community engagement.
Signature Events & Increased Faculty Engagement
Faculty members have been actively involved in numerous events, including the Computational Science and Statistics Career Fair, the Field of Dreams conference, and Graduate Student Career Panel, providing invaluable mentorship and networking opportunities. (Contact us to learn more about volunteering for next year’s career panel.)
We also welcomed students back with our annual kick-off event, awarding some students with some prestigious awards (Statistics Alumni Fellowship, Graduate Research Fellowship, School of Statistics Director’s Award, Lynn Y.S. Lin Fellowship in Statistical Consulting, Bernard W. Lindgren Teaching Assistant Award, and Bernard W. Lindgren Graduate Instructor Award).
This year’s annual Seymour Geisser Lecture took place on October 16, featuring Edward Bedrick as the speaker. This event was very special and brought alumni, faculty and students together.
The School of Statistics Advisory Board: Driving our Success
Established in 2015, the School of Statistics Advisory Board has been instrumental in shaping the school’s success for over nine years. The board provides invaluable guidance, offering diverse perspectives from academia, government, and industry to capture the breadth of statistics and data science.
We are currently recruiting new members to join this exceptional group. If you’re interested in contributing to the strategic direction and impact of the School of Statistics, we’d love to hear from you! Please contact us at [email protected].
Warm regards,
Dr. Galin Jones
Director
School of Statistics
Why I Give
My career journey was tremendously enhanced by my statistics degree from the University of Minnesota. Following my degree, I went on to have executive roles in North America and Asia for two of the world's largest banking businesses. Today, I work in venture capital with early stage companies in clean energy, supply chain, and agriculture. Throughout my career, I used the statistical methods that I acquired from my UMN degree.
I am discovering that today, the statistics degree is more valuable than ever. Currently working in Silicon Valley, I have a front row seat to witness the rise of new technologies: AI, Big Data, Deep Learning, Blockchain, Quantum Computing, Genetic Algorithms to name a few. All of these involve statistical methods and data analysis.
It was an easy decision for me to continue to support the UMN School of Statistics, both in time and contributions. My service on the School of Statistics Advisory Board has been tremendously rewarding, allowing me to stay well connected to the school.
- Stephen Tich
Support the School of Statistics
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