Spotlights
Graduating PhD Student Spotlight: Mingzhang Yin
Mingzhang Yin PhD in Statistics, UT Austin (Expected, 2020)BS in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, Fudan UniversityDissertation: "Variational Methods with Dependence Structure"Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Mingyuan ZhouResearch Interests: Bayesian methods, Causal inference and Deep LearningWebsite: https://mingzhang-yin.github.io What does your research focus on? How is it applied?My research areas are Bayesian statistics and machine learning. During Ph.D....SDS Seeking to Hire One or More Fixed-Contract Lecturers to Start Fall 2020
The Department of Statistics and Data Sciences is seeking to hire one or more fixed-contract lecturers (non-tenure track) to teach undergraduate level courses in statistics and data science. Fall 2020 is the anticipated start date. The positions may be full or part time. The department is dedicated to the goal of...Graduating PhD Student Spotlight: Jennifer Starling
JENNIFER STARLING PhD in Statistics, UT Austin (2020, expected)MS in Statistics, Texas A&M UniversityBS in Mathematics, Virginia TechDissertation: "Bayesian methods for complex data structures, with applications to precision medicine in women’s healthcare"Dissertation Advisor: Dr. James ScottResearch Interests: Bayesian methods, nonparametric regression, tree-based models, causal inference, public health, women's health, obstetricsWebsite: https://jestarling.github.ioWhat does your research...A New Texas COVID-19 Pandemic Toolkit Shows the Importance of Social Distancing
Since 2012 a pandemic-planning tool developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin has helped public health officials plan for the consequences of a deadly and virulent virus. Now the pandemic modeler who developed the toolkit is studying COVID-19 and has built a new model to project the...SDS Staff Working Remotely Beginning March 16, 2020
As of Monday, March 16, 2020 all SDS staff are working remotely. Please direct all questions or requests to stat.admin@austin.utexas.edu. Thank you, SDS StaffSDS Student Employees Attend LeaderShape Institute
29 January 2020—In January 2020, two Department of Statistics and Data Science student employees, Kevin Nguyen (he/him) and Nova Rose Brown (they/them), attended the LeaderShape Institute, a 6-day program that covered self-discovery, skills that are applicable to not only the workplace but in personal life, and communication skills. Hosted by the...Jennifer Starling: SBSS AWARD WINNER
23 January 2020—Statistics doctoral candidate Jennifer Starling has been selected as one of ten Section of Bayesian Statistical Science (SBSS) student paper award winners for Joint Statistical Meetings 2020. Jennifer is advised by Dr. James Scott. Her paper is titled "BART with Targeted Smoothing: An analysis of patient-specific stillbirth risk"...SDS Launches Undergraduate Research Forum in Fall 2019
22 January 2020—In December 2019, almost 1800 undergraduate students enrolled in SDS 301, 302, 328M, and 358 presented their original research to their classmates, faculty, and the UT commnity at large. This poster session replaced a traditional final exam as an innovative and engaging way to showcase what the students have...Registration is Open for the 2020 Summer Statistics Institute
The Department of Statistics and Data Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin is hosting the 13th annual UT Summer Statistics Institute (SSI) May 26–29, 2020. Registration begins January 15, 2020 To learn more about 2020 courses and general information please visit cvent.utexas.edu/2020SSI Registration or review the 2020 SSI Brochure. UT's...SDS FOCUS - When Stats isn't Stats
23 July 2019—Acronyms quickly become an additional language to anyone studying or working at The University of Texas at Austin. Because of this, attempting to clarify questions about certain courses can be a lesson in frustration when you are not sure you have contacted the right department. Here at SDS we...UT Announces 21 New Computing Faculty Hires
Dr. Catherine Calder, Chair, Department of Statistics and Data Sciences UT Announces 21 New Computing Faculty Hires Largest computing recruitment in history expands campus expertisehttps://computing.utexas.edu/news/561 With growing enrollment and exploding student interest in computing on campus, The University of Texas at Austin hired 21 new computing faculty members across five...UT Austin Launches Institute to Harness the Data Revolution
Research from UT professors and TRIPODS members Alex Dimakis and Eric Price shows that it is possible to learn a deep generative model that dreams images of human faces (right panel), trained by observing only occluded images (left panel). The middle panel shows a previous approach for solving this problem,...SDS PhD Student Bootcamp Recap
AN OPPORTUNITY TO CONNECT & LEARN On October 17th – 18th, 2019, the UT Department of Statistics and Data Sciences held a PhD Student Bootcamp aimed at helping new PhD in Statistics students prepare for their studies here at UT. Presenters at the Bootcamp included a mix of SDS Faculty and established PhD...Dr. Nathaniel Woodward Represents SDS at the 2019 UT Austin Family Weekend
31 October 2019—On Saturday, October 26, 2019, Dr. Nathaniel Woodward represented the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences at the annual UT Family Day. Nathaniel has been a lecturer with SDS since Fall 2017 and teaches at the annual Summer Statistics Institute. Nathaniel shared this description about the event:“It was...SDS Graduate Students Put Skills to Work through Summer Internships
1 October 2019—Many PhD and MS in Statistics students find summer internships a beneficial way to build and practice the skills they learned in their coursework. Kelly Kang, Chandar Shekhar, and Mingzhang Yin provide details about how they spent their summer of 2019. Kelly Kang (PhD in Statisics): Microsoft "I did...Dr. Michael Mahometa Receives 2019 College of Natural Sciences Teaching Excellence Award
Dr. Michael Mahometa, Director of Consulting and Professional Education for the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences, was selected to receive a 2019 College of Natural Sciences Teaching Excellence Award. The award recognizes exceptional teaching at either the undergraduate or graduate level. Michael recieved the award at the 2019 Teaching Discovery...Multiple SDS Faculty Positions Available
The Department of Statistics and Data Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin is seeking applicants for three open-rank faculty positions to begin in Fall 2020. The successful candidates will be expected to teach undergraduate and graduate statistics and data science courses, have an active research program, supervise graduate students,...SDS Focus - Stress Management Resources
The Counseling and Mental Health Center offers a wide variety of services and programs to meet students’ mental health needs. The services listed below are free workshops and events intended to provide valuable life skills.While these wellness workshops and events are often led by a licensed mental health professional, and students...Bayesian Statistics Award Winners—Dr. Abhra Sarkar, Kelly Kang, and Tianjian Zhou
9 September 2019—Please join SDS in congratulating Dr. Abhra Sarkar, Kelly Kang, and Dr. Tianjian Zhou for receiving the following prestigious awards for their work in Bayesian Statistics. Dr. Abhra Sarkar, Assistant ProfessorAbhra Sarkar was the lead author of the paper awarded the prestigious Mitchell Prize that is given annually by...
