Addressing Statistical Challenges
Professor Zhaoxia Yu is focused on statistical modeling — in particular, statistical genetics, biological imaging and bioinformatics. “My main research interest is methodological development to address statistical challenges, especially when analyzing multivariate and high dimensional data collected in biological, medical, and behavioral studies,” she says. For example, she has studied how to use statistical shape theory to measure relationships of multiple populations.

Collaborating with Neuroscientists
Much of Professor Yu’s work involves collaborating with neuroscientists at UCI. “I have been working on understanding neural signals from calcium imaging recordings and discovering neurological mechanisms of cognitive behaviors and learning,” she says. The goal of one of these projects is to understand the mechanistic link between the posterior parietal cortex circuit and stress-induced deficits in decision-making.

Leveraging Data
Professor Yu aims to help researchers make appropriate and better use of data and help a general audience understand and interpret statistical results. With her statistical expertise, she has collaborated with local researchers on various interesting problems, such as music trends in the past few decades and genetic impacts on blind dating.