Department of Statistics - Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences

Department of Statistics - Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences

Professor Annie Qu Works to Enhance the Detection of Invasive Cancers Using Medical Imaging Data

Recent technology advancements have catalyzed the rapid growth of large volumes of biomedical data with complex structures — particularly medical imaging data. The sheer volume and relatively unstructured nature of imaging data, coupled with its ability to carry significant amounts of information on disease status and treatment outcomes, exemplify the double-edged sword of big data for the medical world. Although more data is being collected to develop sophisticated statistical models and to train and test machine learning algorithms, the amount of useful information extracted is not necessarily proportional to the size of the data.

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Hal Stern Selected as a Fellow of the International Society of Bayesian Analysis

Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Hal Stern is one of nine new fellows selected by the International Society of Bayesian Analysis (ISBA). Stern, a Chancellor’s Professor of Statistics in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS), was recognized “for extraordinary contributions to Bayesian theory and methodology; for advancing Bayesian thinking and the principled use of Bayesian methods in a wide range of disciplines, and for his outstanding service to the profession through editorial and administrative positions.”

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Statistics Ph.D. Student Mary Ryan Receives Public Impact Fellowship

Statistics Ph.D. student Mary Ryan has been awarded a 2019-2020 Public Impact Fellowship, which supports graduate students whose research “demonstrates the potential to significantly improve or enrich the lives of Californians and/or national and global communities.” With her research into statistical methodology related to identifying biomarkers in Alzheimer’s disease, the impact of her work has far-reaching potential. The debilitating neurodegenerative disorder currently affects approximately 5.6 million Americans over the age of 65, and that number is projected to reach 13.8 million by 2050.

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Professor Berrocal Elected Chair of the Section in Environmental Sciences of the ISBA

Veronica Berrocal

Statistics Associate Professor Veronica Berrocal was recently elected to a three-year term as chair of the Section in Environmental Sciences (EnviBayes) of the International Society of Bayesian Analysis (ISBA). EnviBayes promotes research and education in Bayesian methods in environmental sciences, organizing conferences and workshops and developing short courses for students and practitioners. It also encourages academics to work with environmental and public health organizations.

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Staff Spotlight: Rosemary Busta’s Journey from Chemistry to Statistics to Scotland and Beyond

The Department of Statistics has never known life without Rosemary Busta. Having helped build the department from the ground up, she has been here from the very beginning — even before that, in fact. Prior to taking on the new Statistics Department Manager role in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) back in 2002, she began her UCI career as an administrative assistant in the Department of Chemistry. Now, after more than 20 years of service at UCI, she is getting ready to retire.

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Statistics Professors Shahbaba and Minin Help Develop Framework to Investigate Complex Biological Systems

Statistics Professor Babak Shahbaba is the principal investigator (PI) of a new three-year, $800,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The project, “Modulus: Data-Driven Mechanistic Modeling of Hierarchical Tissues,” brings together an interdisciplinary team of biologists, statisticians and mathematicians, including co-PIs Statistics Professor Vladimir Minin and Assistant Professor Angela Fleischman from the UCI School of Medicine. The goal is to develop a new mathematical framework that combines statistical and mechanistic models to help scientists discover emergent biological phenomena and to understand the rules that govern them.

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Hal Stern Appointed Vice Provost for Academic Planning

Dear colleagues,
On behalf of Chancellor Gillman, I am pleased to announce that Hal S. Stern has been appointed vice provost for academic planning, effective Sept. 1. Since joining UCI as founding chair of the Department of Statistics in 2002, Professor Stern has held a range of academic and administrative leadership roles. He served for eight years as chair of statistics and then more than six years as the Ted and Janice Smith Family Foundation Dean of the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences. He is currently a Chancellor’s Professor of statistics.

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