Spotlights
New Faculty: Nhat Ho, Vagheesh Narasimhan, and Layla Guyot
The Department of Statistics and Data Sciences is pleased to welcome three new faculty members. Dr. Nhat Ho joins the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences as a tenure track Assistant Professor. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science...Faculty Jared Murray and Carlos Carvalho to present Bayesian Analysis Discussion Paper
SDS Faculty Jared Murray and Carlos Carvalho will present their Discussion Paper featured in the September 2020 issue of Bayesian Analysis. Learn more and register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSchuTbdek6xcKcL83McHqIP58BJ8eWlaC-cI_ig4y8hZfVTxQ/viewformDr. Abhra Sarkar Awarded NSF Grant
Congratulations to Dr. Abhra Sarkar (Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics and Data Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin) on his recent National Science Foundation (NSF) award for the project titled, “Novel Statistical Frameworks for Local Inference in Neuroscience of Learning.” Dr. Sarkar will serve as...SDS Seminar Series: Ciara Nugent (Friday 8/28)
The Fall 2020 SDS Seminar Series begins with Ciara Nugent (PhD candidate; The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Statistics and Data Sciences), on Friday, August 28th, 2020 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. via Zoom. Please contact stat.admin@austin.utexas.edu for the Zoom link. Title: "Subgroup Analysis Using Multiple Studies"Abstract: Clinical trials...SDS Seminar Series: Mauricio Garcia Tec (Friday 9/11)
The Fall 2020 SDS Seminar Series continues with Mauricio Garcia Tec (PhD candidate; The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Statistics and Data Sciences), on Friday, September 11th, 2020 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. via Zoom. Please contact stat.admin@austin.utexas.edu for the Zoom link. Title: "Statistical Modeling of COVID-19 spread: first-wave projections,...SDS Seminar Series: Xinjie Fan (Friday 9/4)
The Fall 2020 SDS Seminar Series continues with Xinjie Fan (PhD candidate; The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Statistics and Data Sciences), on Friday, September 4th, 2020 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. via Zoom. Please contact stat.admin@austin.utexas.edu for the Zoom link. Title: "Probabilistic Attention Modules for Deep Neural Networks."Abstract: Attention...SDS Seminar Series: Yanxin Li (Friday 9/25)
The Fall 2020 SDS Seminar Series continues with Yanxin Li (PhD candidate; The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Statistics and Data Sciences), on Friday, September 25th, 2020 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. via Zoom. Please contact stat.admin@austin.utexas.edu for the Zoom link. Title: "Latent Slice Sampling"Abstract: In Bayesian inference, the two most...SDS Seminar Series: Dr. Robert Lunde (Friday 10/9)
The Fall 2020 SDS Seminar Series continues with Dr. Robert Lunde (Postdoctoral Fellow; The University of Texas at Austin, College of Natural Sciences; Department of Statistics and Data Sciences), on Friday, October 9th, 2020 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. via Zoom. Please contact stat.admin@austin.utexas.edu for the Zoom link. Title: ""Abstract:Graduating PhD Student Spotlight: Novin Ghaffari
Novin Ghaffari PhD in Statistics, The University of Texas at Austin (Fall 2019)MS in Statistics, The University of Texas at AustinBS in Math, Plan II, and Finance, The University of Texas at AustinDissertation: "Optimal Transportation and Barycenter Problems via Convex Functions" Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Stephen G. WalkerResearch Interests: Mathematical statistics, Bayesian methods, optimal transportation,...Graduating PhD Student Spotlight: Su Chen
Su Chen PhD in Statistics, The University of Texas at Austin (Summer 2020)MS in Mathematics, The University of Texas at AustinBS in Applied Math, Zhejiang UniversityDissertation: "Bayesian Variable Selection and Hypothesis Testing" Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Stephen WalkerResearch Interests: Bayesian methods with applications in machine learning and data scienceDescribe your research.The general topic of...Updated: New Model Forecasts When States Likely to See Peak in COVID-19
By Marc G Airhart Original Article A computer model from the UT COVID-19 Modeling Consortium forecasts daily deaths from COVID-19 for the entire US and each state. Credit: University of Texas at Austin. A model that projects COVID-19 deaths for all 50 U.S. states using geolocation data from cellphones to...SSI Course Spotlight: Scalable Machine Learning: Methods and Tools
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! Learn more and register. What is the course? This course introduces participants to common methods and tools for machine learning in practice and...SSI Course Spotlight: Introduction to SQL and Relational Database Design
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! Learn more and register. What is the course? This course will teach interested parties the basics of relational database design and Structured Query Language...SSI Course Spotlight: Introduction to Data Analysis and Graphics using R
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! Learn more and register. What is this course? Introduction to Data Analysis and Graphics using R is a hands-on course intended to provide first-time...SSI Course Spotlight: Introduction to Bayesian Statistics
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! Learn more and register. What is the course? Introduction to Bayesian Statistics will cover probability basics, common continuous/discrete probability distributions, likelihood functions, and Bayes'...SDS FOCUS - Summer & Fall 2020 Registration
Summer and Fall 2020 registration for UT Austin begins on Monday, April 27th. The registrar will publish the schedule on Wednesday, April 8th. Find the access times during which you can register online by checking your Registration Information Sheet. Undergraduate Students• Undergraduate level courses are offered under course code SDS. Please note: SDS does not currently...Graduating PhD Student Spotlight: Mingzhang Yin
Mingzhang Yin PhD in Statistics, The University of Texas at Austin (Spring 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...Graduating PhD Student Spotlight: Jennifer Starling
JENNIFER STARLING PhD in Statistics, UT Austin (Spring 2020)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 focus...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...
