Catherine (Kate) Calder

Dr. Catherine (Kate) Calder is a Professor in the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences (SDS) in the College of Natural Sciences and currently serves as Department Chair.  Prior to joining the UT faculty in the fall of 2019, she spent 16 years at The Ohio State University as a faculty member in the Department of Statistics.  From 2018-2019, she also served as co-director of the Mathematical Biosciences Institute, which at the time was one of eight NSF-funded Mathematical Sciences Research Institutes.  Calder serves as an Associate Director of UT’s Population Research Center and is responsible for the Center’s Scientific and Technical Core.  She is the Chair of the NIH Analytics and Statistics for Population Research Panel B Study Section and an Area Editor for the Annals of Applied Statistics.  Previously, she served on the Board of Directors of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and the International Society for Bayesian Analysis.  

Calder’s research focuses on the development of statistical methodology for complex, structured data (e.g., spatial statistics, relational data).  She has made contributions in the areas of dimension reduction methodology for spatio-temporal data, the development of covariate-driven nonstationary spatial models, hierarchical pathways models for exposure assessment, data-augmentation algorithms for spatial generalized linear (mixed) models, efficient models for discrete spatial data, latent space models for relational data, and model-based comparisons of networks.  Her current applied projects aim to better measure routine activity patterns of individuals using mobile-tracking devices in order to understand (1) how shared routine activity patterns -- and the weak social ties that result from them -- affect the spatial patterning of crime across cities and (2) how non-residential activity space exposures affect the health and well-being of youth.  Her research has been funded by the NIH, NSF, and other federal agencies and foundations.