Statistical data remains the vital component that distinguishes exceptional research from the mundane, and I try to impress upon my classes how careful analysis yields spectacular results.
Associate Head & Professor of Biostatistics
My academic career began with two masters degrees: one in biology and another in statistics. My work, therefore, has always gone down these two paths, simultaneously investigating the potential biological concerns for fish and wildlife while paying close attention to the statistical data that brings me to that conclusion. Our environment is changing, and with statistical data, we can monitor those changes more closely than ever before.
As an academician, I am active in the field, collaborating with investigators ranging from ecology, epidemiology, kinesiology, pharmacy and psychology. Current research focuses on the development of new and innovative statistical methods for analyzing information from electronic devices such as smart phones and accelerometers used to collect behavioral data regarding smoking, dietary lapse, social networks and activity levels of subjects in their everyday environments.
I have also served as a manuscript referee for diverse journals including Ecology, Biometrics, Journal of Applied Statistics, Genetics, Journal of the American Statistical Association, The American Statistician, and Landscape Ecology, to name a few of the dozens of journals I have reviewed for.
I’ve worked with the Environmental Protection Agency and other state and national organizations to assess and monitor such things as mercury levels. My students get to see my work as an example of the kind of careful scholarship our field expects.