Statistics Building

Welcome to the Department of Statistics at Colorado State University. Statistics is the science of inferring knowledge from data and describing uncertainty in those inferences. It plays a central role in scientific research, social policy, and governance. The Department of Statistics has a world-class record of success in education, research and service and has an out-sized impact on campus because of its engagement in educating students in all disciplines and interdisciplinary research.

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Department Highlights

Workshop on Bayesian analysis of environmental data

September 18-20, 2023, our department will host a workshop on complex environmental data. Its aim is to provide researchers in  Bayesian, environmental and ecological statistics with a venue to share cutting-edge advances and spark deeper knowledge gains. The workshop will facilitate  the transfer of knowledge between research sub-communities, fostering collaboration, and encourage advances from the wider community of researchers in Bayesian analysis of complex datasets to percolate into the environmental domain. Details are available at https://statistics.colostate.edu/envibayes-workshop/

Professor Matt Koslovsky Receives an NSF Grant to Study High-Dimensional Data

Matt Koslovsky (PI) received NSF grant “Bayesian Sparse Dirichlet-Multinomial Models for Discovering Latent Structure in High-Dimensional Compositional Count Data” funded by the Division of Mathematical Sciences program “Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineering in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences.” Motivated by data generated by high-throughput sequencing technology in omics research, this research project will develop a novel sparse Dirichlet-multinomial (sDM) model that simultaneously accommodates potential zero inflation in multivariate compositional count data while estimating compositional probabilities. Extensions of the sDM modeling framework will be investigated for high-dimensional variable selection and clustering problems, and user-friendly software will be made publicly available. Graduate students will receive educational and professional training and mentoring.

Professor Kokoszka Receives the Neyman Medal

In recognition of his contributions to statistics, Professor Piotr Kokoszka received the Neyman Medal from the Polish Statistical Association in a ceremony in Warsaw, Poland. The ceremony took place in July during the annual conference of the Central Statistical Office of Poland. It was followed by a plenary lecture. The medal was established in 2012 to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the association and is awarded annually.

Jerzy Neyman was one of the founders of modern statistics and is best known for the introduction of the concepts of the confidence interval and stratified sampling and for his contributions to the theory of significance tests. After emigrating to the United States, he established the UC Berkley Department of Statistics where he worked until his retirement.

Professor Dan Cooley Featured on Podcast

Statistics professor Dan Cooley was recently featured on the Carry the Two Podcast, where he discussed using extreme value analysis to model rare weather events. In the episode, Dan discusses how his work can help explain the changing frequency and severity of wildfires in Colorado and how climate change might be playing a key role. You can listen here.

Sierra Pugh recognized in ASA Health Policy Statistics Section

Graduate student Sierra Pugh has won a Best Student Paper award by the Health Policy Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association for her paper, “A Hierarchical Bayesian Model for Estimating Age-Specific COVID-19 Infection Fatality Rates in Developing Countries.” Sierra will present her work at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Toronto this August. Her paper is a joint work with her mentor, Dr. Bailey Fosdick. Congratulations, Sierra!

Danielle Demateis named Sustainability Leadership Fellow

Statistics graduate student Danielle Demateis has been named a Sustainability Leadership Fellow for the 2023-2024 academic year. She will participate in the leadership program through the School of Global Environmental Sustainability at CSU. Her work focuses on understanding the environmental factors that influence health. Read more here.

Two Honors for Professor Dan Cooley

Professor Dan Cooley has been elected as a  Fellow of the American Statistical Association. Every year, this honor is bestowed on up to one one-third of one percent of the total association membership. Professor Cooley has been elected in recognition of leadership and work in extreme value theory and modeling of multivariate extremes, for substantive contributions to the atmospheric and environmental sciences, and for distinguished statistics leadership on committees addressing climate change.

In addition to the election as an ASA Fellow, Professor Cooley received the 2023 ENVR Distinguished Achievement Award from the Environmental Statistics section of the ASA. This award is given to one or two researchers every year. Professor Cooley was recognized for methodological innovation in the field of extreme value analysis, especially for pioneering work in spatial extremes; for leadership in advancing research that bridges the domains of statistics and climate science and for exemplary outreach and mentoring activities.

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Upcoming Department Seminars,

Preliminary Exams,

& Ph.D. Defenses

Department Video Archive

Statistics Department Clubs & Organizations

Student Organized Activities and Research Seminars (SOARS)

SOARS

Student Organized Activities and Research Seminars (SOARS) exists to encourage community and scholarship among graduate students in the statistics department and more broadly at Colorado State University.

 

See the SOARS website and full calendar of upcoming events here.

The Data Science and Statistical Learning Journal Club

The Data Science and Statistical Learning Journal Club

The Data Science and Statistical Learning Journal Club meets weekly to discuss papers and current work on topics relevant to data science and statistical learning. At the beginning of each semester, we will select a few interesting and latest manuscripts to study.

See the Data Science and Statistical Learning Journal Club website here.

Stat Alliance

CSU Stat Alliance

Stat Alliance is a student-led club welcome to all students with any level of interest or skill in statistics. Our meetings include hearing from guest speakers in the field of statistics,  making connections, social activities and much more!

See the Stat Alliance website and full calendar of upcoming events here.

Environmental Biostatistics Working Group

Environmental Biostatistics Working Group

The Environmental Biostatistics Working Group seeks to build collaboration and community among faculty and students working in biostatistics with application in environmental and public health.

See the Environmental Biostatistics Working Group website here.

Statistics Communication Group

Statistics Communication Group

The Statistics Communication Group is a student-led platform for communicating statistics research to the public. Graduate and undergraduate students conducting statistics research can submit a short explanation of their research for publication on the writing group’s blog.

See the blog page here for more details.

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Department News

Statistics undergraduate summer research program culminates at CURC

For students studying statistics, undergraduate research is a valuable, hands-on chance to learn how to use statistics to support real research with real-world outcomes.

CSU study finds disparities in natural gas leak prevalence in U.S. urban areas

Over a several-year period, natural gas pipeline leaks were more prevalent in neighborhoods with low-income or majority non-white populations than those with high income or predominately white populations.

Ram Legacy: Elmer Remmenga, Department of Statistics

Elmer Remmenga is remembered by those who love him as many things – an avid hunter and fisherman who always knew the best spots, a devoted father who put family before everything else, and an applied statistician who was integral to the establishment of the Department of Statistics at Colorado State University.

Statistics master’s student wins Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Hackathon

Glenn Swanson, a recent graduate from the Applied Statistics Master’s Program, recently won first place in the Harmonized Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Hackathon, a competition to create statistical models that could potentially help in a health care setting.

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