Spotlights
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...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...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—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...SDS FOCUS - Statistics Online Support
The Statistics Online Support (SOS) resource platform is an interactive, decision tree based site that asks users a series of questions that guide them to the appropriate statistical technique. The site provides detailed examples, alongside embedded tutorial videos showing how to conduct the analysis by hand calculation or using the software packages R and...A Growth Mindset Intervention Can Change Students’ Grades if School Culture is Supportive
Article from College of Natural Science News, August 09, 2019: Boosting academic success does not have to derive from new teachers or curriculum; it can also come from changing students' attitudes about their abilities through a short online intervention, according to the latest findings from the National Study of Learning Mindsets...
Jennifer Starling Gives Invited Talk at the 2019 Joint Statistical Meetings
15 August 2019— Doctoral student Jennifer Starling gave an invited talk on her research, titled "Targeted Smooth Bayesian Causal Forests for Heterogeneous Smooth Treatment Effects," at the 2019 Joint Statistical Meetings held in Denver, Colorado during July 27 – August 1, 2019. The work presented extends the Bayesian Causal Forest framework to include cases where...Corwin Zigler Uses Statistics to Link Air Pollution to Health Impacts
Article from College of Natural Science News, July 31, 2019: As a new academic year approaches, we have a new series to introduce you to some of the newest scientists and mathematicians in our community—faculty who joined UT in the last year. First up: Corwin Zigler, associate professor in UT...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...SDS FOCUS - Sally Ragsdale Now Heads the SDS Certificate and Portfolio Programs
8 July 2019—Sally Ragsdale is an Assistant Professor of Instruction for the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences. In addition to teaching SDS 328M Biostatistics in Fall 2019, an undergraduate introductory stats course where students use R in a weekly lab, Sally administers the SDS Certificate and Portfolio Programs.You took over...SDS FOCUS - Why is SDS 302 closed?
25 June 2019—Two questions come up regularly for students during the fall semester registration sessions: why is SDS 302 closed and how can I get a seat? We have assembled a quick FAQ below to give some insight into the process as well as provide some background information about why these...Corwin M. Zigler Awarded the 2019 Rothman Epidemiology Prize
7 June 2019—Dr. Corwin M. Zigler was recently announced as the winner of the 2019 Rothman Epidemiology Prize. Excerpt from original article in the Epidemiology Journal The Editors and Editorial Board of Epidemiology are pleased to announce the selection of Corwin M. Zigler as the winner of this year’s Rothman Epidemiology...Stay or Switch? SDS Schools Adults at Thinkery21 Event
20 May 2019—SDS participated in the Thinkery’s May adult-only event, “Thinkery21: Get Your Game On.” The Thinkery in Austin is a private non-profit organization that offers children hands-on, interactive STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) exhibits and programs. The general target age of the Thinkery entrant is newborn through eleven...LAFF-On Programming for High Performance Debuts June 4 on edX
The Online Course LAFF-On Programming for High Performance Debuts June 4 on edX Is my code fast? Can it be faster? Scientific computing, machine learning, and data science are about solving problems that are compute intensive. Choosing the right algorithm, extracting parallelism at various levels, and amortizing the cost of data...Cross-Cutting Conversation: Frontiers in Computational Health
Dean Paul Goldbart invites you to join the next Cross-Cutting Conversation: Frontiers in Computational Health. We look forward to seeing you at an interdisciplinary event for faculty, staff, graduate and medical students and all with an interest in the future of computational health. Join us for a conversation with Kate Calder,...SSI 2019 Course Spotlight "Applied Hierarchical Linear Modeling" with Catherine Cubbin
Dr. Catherine Cubbin returns to teach "Applied Hierarchical Linear Modeling" at the 12th annual Summer Statistics Institute What is the main goal of this course? What makes you excited about teaching this course? The main goal of this course is to expose students to the myriad ways that HLM can be used...
