Department celebrates 75th anniversary
The Department of Statistics gathered on September 30th and October 1st to celebrate 75 years of education, research, and engagement. The event connected friends of the department to reflect on their memories of ISU and recognize all those who comprise the fabric of the department. The weekend of events featured an open house in Snedecor Hall, a poster session, a series of lectures and panel discussions, a banquet dinner, and the sharing of many wonderful memories. Thank you to all who helped coordinate the celebration and all who attended. Here's to the next 75 years!
Paper authored by Crawfor, Berry, and Carriquiry is among most-downloaded papers
Alicia Carriquiry's co-authored paper titled, "A clustering method for graphical handwriting components and statistical writership analysis," is one of the top 10 most downloaded articles on the Wiley Online Library.
Carriquiry co-authored the paper with Amy Crawford and Nick Berry, who are also alums of the department.
Jarad Niemi selected for Research Collaboration Catalysts Cohort
The Office of the Vice President of Research is welcoming 26 Iowa State University faculty members to the 2022-2023 Research Collaboration Catalysts (RCC) cohort designed to train the next generation of research team leaders. Jarad Niemi, Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics, was selected to join this group of leaders.
Using evidence-based training, tools and resources, participating Iowa State faculty develop strong leadership skills and learn how to manage challenges that are specific to interdisciplinary collaborations to foster high-performing research teams. Participating tenured, tenure-eligible, and research term faculty were nominated as individuals who have demonstrated potential to lead future high-impact interdisciplinary research teams.
Through the course of the 2022-2023 academic year, cohort participants will interact with each other and with a variety of internal and external content experts in eight sessions to learn about and practice evidence-based means to build and lead high-functioning, high-performing research teams. Topics that will be covered include:
- Utilizing leadership styles to build a team vision and set goals;
- Enhancing communication skills to better navigate conflict;
- Negotiating credit and authorship while building a collaboration plan; and
- Leading large interdisciplinary research teams to success with project management.
Congratulations, Jarad!
Friends and alums of the department meet at the Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM
)
Several members of the Department of Statistics attended the 2022 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) in Washington, D.C. from August 6th-11th. On August 10th, friends and alums of the department gathered to reconnect with current and former scholars from the Department of Statistics.
JSM is one of the largest statistical events in the world with more than 6,400 attendees 
from 52 countries. The conference includes 600+ sessions, more than 1,000 students, 75+ employers, 100+ exhibitors, and more than 40 professional development courses and workshops.
Ph.D. student Federico Veneri Guarch won second place at the Joint Statistics Meetings Statistical Significance poster competition.
The poster highlights the work of Fede, Danica Ommen, and the Center for Statistics Applications in Forensic Evidence. Titled, "Ensemble of SLR Systems for Forensic Evidence," the project introduces a sampling algorithm that remediates the dependence structure in forensic comparisons.
Statistics Faculty Participates in Go Further Conference for 80-10th grade girls
Faculty in the Department of Statistics has started joining efforts to get students interested in Statistics. On October 27th and November 1st, we participated in the Go Further Conference organized by the Program for Women in Science and Engineering (WISE). The conference is for 8-10th grade girls.1
Laura Ziegler organized an activity about Smelling Parkinson’s. The activity is about Joy Milne who was able to identify whether or not someone had Parkinson’s using her sense of smell.2 To test her claim, Joy was presented with 12 different shirts, each worn by a different person, some of whom had Parkinson’s and some of whom did not. The shirts were given to Joy in a random order and she had to decide whether 
each shirt was worn by a Parkinson’s patient or not. She identified 11 out of 12 correctly. The person she incorrectly identified as having Parkinson’s later developed Parkinson’s.
In the activity, students conducted a simulation to investigate how likely it is to randomly guess 11 or 12 correct out of 12, and discussed whether or not there is sufficient evidence to claim that Joy could smell Parkinson’s. Students had a lot of fun “smelling” cards with pictures of shirts on them and making guesses. For those of you that are curious, since this discovery, dogs have been trained to smell for Parkinson’s (e.g., PADs for Parkinson’s, https://www.padsforparkinsons.org/), researchers were able to isolate the chemical that Joy was smelling, and a swab test has been created to test for Parkinson’s claimed to be 95% accurate.3
1https://www.wise.iastate.edu/outreach/gofurther-
2 Tyson, D. (n.d.). MrTysonStats. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from http://mrtysonstats.com/apstats/apstats.html
3Quigley, E. (2022, September 7). Parkinson's test: Woman who smelled disease on husband helps scientists. BBC News. Retrieved October 12, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-62795737
Jae-Kwang Kim has two papers published in top journals
- Wang, Z., Peng, L., and Kim, J.K. (2022). "Bootstrap inference for the finite population mean under complex sampling designs," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B,
- H. Sang , J.K. Kim, and D. Lee (2022). "Semiparametric fractional imputation using Gaussian mixture models for handling multivariate missing data", Journal of the American Statistical Association.
These papers are the research outcome of PhD study of Zhonglei Wang and Hejian Sang, respectively, at ISU. Zhonglei Wang graduated in 2018 and is currently working as an assistant professor at Xiamen University in China. Hejian Sang graduated in 2018 and is currently working at Google.
Newest faculty member Zhanrui Cai publishes three new papers
Zhanrui Cai, our newest tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Statistics, has published three new papers. Among his co-authors are researchers from Penn State University and Carnegie Mellon University, where he received his PhD and completed a postdoc, respectively.
- Cai, Zhanrui, Dong Xi, Xuan Zhu, and Runze Li. "Causal discoveries for high dimensional mixed data." Statistics in Medicine (2022)
- Cai, Zhanrui, Jing Lei, and Kathryn Roeder. "Model-free Prediction Test with Application to Genomics Data." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022)
- Du, Jin-Hong, Zhanrui Cai, and Kathryn Roeder. "Robust probabilistic modeling for single-cell multimodal mosaic integration and imputation via scVAEIT." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022)
Chong Wang published research paper, co-athored book chapter, and received two research grants
Professor Chong Wang published with his former Ph.D. graduate Dapeng Hu, current Ph.D. student Fangshu Ye and collaborator Professor Annette M. O'Connor a research article titled "Using information from network meta-analyses to optimize the power and sample allocation of a subsequent trial with a new treatment" in BMC Medical Research Methodology. This work provides an important tool for designing clinical trials with improved power by leveraging evidence from an existing network meta-analysis.
Wang is a co-author of a book chapter, "Surveillance on swine farms using antemortem specimens" in "Optimising pig herd health and production." The chapter has been published under an Open Access (OA) License agreement and is freely available to read.
Wang is a Co-PI (with PI Prof. Jeff Zimmerman) on a $108,162 award from National Pork Board titled "Participatory Regional Surveillance to Establish Regional FAD Status within the U.S. and Improve Swine Movement Decisions." This grant provides financial support for a Research Assistant from the Department of Statistics.
Wang is a Co-Investigator (with PI Prof. Daniel Linhares) on a $1,000,000 award from the USDA-NIFA titled "Integrating data streams for causal inference and forecasting application to foster precision swine health & production management." This grant covers Prof. Wang's salary to conduct statistical research related to the project.
C. R. Henderson Fund for Excellence in Predictive Inference and Its Applications supports research conducted by Danyang Zhang and Chong WangThe C. R. Henderson Fund for Excellence in Predictive Inference and Its Applications is supporting research conducted by Statistics PhD student Danyang Zhang and Statistics Professor Chong Wang. Zhang and Wang are developing prediction interval methods for predicting wean-to-finish mortality in swine production systems, using support vector machines and mixed-effects split-conformal prediction. In addition to support from C. R. Henderson Fund, the project receives funding from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Grant #2022-68014-36668.
Michael Boyd joined department as Graduate Student Services Specialist
In October, Michael Boyd joined the Department of Statistics as the Graduate Student Services Specialist. In his role, Michael helps with questions and issues related to the graduate program.
Michael has an MS in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a BA in Environmental Earth Science with a minor in Science and Math Education from the University of California, Berkeley. He has past experience as a high school teacher, a program coordinator, an administrative assistant, a student advisor, and an IT coordinator.
Michael joins us after Jess Severe left her role as Graduate Student Services Specialist to further her professional goals. Jess is now working as a program coodinator in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems 
Engineering. In August, we celebrated Jess at an ice cream social where we showed our appreciation for all her hard work over the years.
Congratulations, Jess, and welcome, Michael!
Forensic Statistics becomes an Official ASA Interest Group
Assistant Professor Danica Ommen led a successful effort to create an interest group within the American Statistical Association focused on forensic science applications. The opportunity for statisticians to apply their expertise to problems in forensic science is continuing to grow following two important reports, one by the 2009 National Research Council and the other by the 2016 President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, both of which called for improvement in the foundations of forensic science. Statisticians have responded to these calls for reform by performing new research, and this research has been received positively by the forensic science community. This interest group will enhance the professional development and growth of its members by providing networking opportunities with other interested individuals outside their immediate circles of collaboration. Further, it will shape the forensic science community by promoting best statistical practices for forensic evidence analysis, interpretation, and presentation. Those interested in joining the interest group will be able to do so the next time they renew their ASA membership. In the meanwhile, if you are interested in joining the informational email list, please contact Dr. Ommen at .
Emily Berg began collaboration with Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
Emily Berg, Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics, began a two-year collaboration with the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) this fall. Dr. Berg is using her expertise in small-area estimation to improve the National Crime Victimization Survey conducted by BJS. She will be working from Ames and splitting her time split evenly between Iowa State and BJS. Congratulations to Dr. Berg on being selected for this important and impactful project!
Ronald J. and S. Doré Mead Fund for Student Experience in Statistics enables undergraduate research
With the support of the Ronald J. and S. Doré Mead Fund for Student Experience in Statistics, Tyler Christians worked with Statistics Assistant Professor Kori Khan on a project aimed at understanding the impact forensic evidence has on trial outcomes. Tyler had previously worked to collect data on approximately 60 felony criminal cases that went to trial. For each of these cases, a defendant was charged with between 3 and 28 offenses. This data included information related to the number and types of forensic evidence presented to the jury as well as the jury’s decision on each offense. About half of the cases resulted in guilty decisions for all offenses and about half of the cases resulted in a mix of guilty and not guilty findings for the offenses. Tyler worked to use zero-inflated binomial regression models to understand how forensic evidence might impact the probability of being found not guilty. Tyler is a third-year Data Science major who is interested in pursuing a career in Data Science in a field related to public policy.
With the support of the Ronald J. and S. Doré Mead Fund for Student Experience in Statistics, Benedict Neo worked with Statistics Associate Professor Jarad Niemi on WEPPR. WEPPR is an R interface to the USDA computer model Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP). This interface allows development of computer emulators of the WEPP computer model to increase the geographical range for daily erosion estimates provided by the daily erosion project. Ben is a senior Statistics major planning to graduate in Fall 2023 and enter the workforce for a couple of years before attending graduate school.
With the support of the Ronald J. and S. Doré Mead Fund for Student Experience in Statistics, Pramit Vyas worked with Statistics Affiliated Assistant Professor Xiongtao Dai on an exploratory data analysis involving data depth. Pramit is a junior at Iowa State University majoring in Statistics and Data Science with plans on minoring in Computer Science and Political Science.
Several statistics and data science students – including first-year honors students – are currently participating in research projects in the Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence (CSAFE). Emily Allen (Statistics), Tyler Christians (Data Science), Caroly Coronado-Vargas (Statistics), Tracie-Lynn Lamoreux (Statistics), Craig Orman (Data Science), Aditi Pokharkar (Economics and Data Science), Nathan Rethwisch (Statistics and Data Science) and Ashlan Simpson (Statistics) are learning by doing, and get to see statistics in action. Students gain expertise in data collection, database management, visualization and exploratory analyses, and of course, various flavors of statistical analyses. By working side-by-side with CSAFE graduate students, these undergraduate researchers also learn about graduate school and about the many doors that a degree in statistics (at any level!) will open. Emily Allen and Ashland Simpson’s early research experiences are made possible, in part, by the Ronald J. and S. Doré Mead Fund for Student Experience in Statistics.
Dan Nettleton elected chair-elect of American Statistical Association's Caucus of Academic Representatives (CAR)Dan Nettleton, Department of Statistics chair, has been elected chair-elect of the American Statistical Association’s Caucus of Academic Representatives (CAR). CAR members include departmental executive officers, such as chairs and heads, of departments of statistics and biostatistics in the United States. According to the CAR charter, CAR’s purpose is “to promote the statistics discipline within the academic community and provide resources for academic statisticians to successfully advocate for the discipline.” Nettleton will serve as chair-elect, chair, and past-chair through August of 2025.
First Lego League Team coached by Jarad Niemi wins regional competition
Jarad Niemi, Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics, serves as a co-PI on the Consortium for Cultivating Human and Naturally reGenerative Enterprises. Among the goals of this grant are to develop the science and economics behind anaerobic digestion to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) from perennial grass and winter crops. An issue with digester usage in Iowa is that winter temperatures slow bacteria metabolism causing reduced production of RNG.
A First Lego League team coached by Niemi won the Webster City regional competition, in part for their project on a two-digester solution where an above-ground digester is used in warm months and a below-
ground digester is used in cold months to provide RNG year-round. In addition to the team award, Dr. Niemi won the Coach/Mentor Award at the Webster City regional. The team will now compete at the State Championship held on the Iowa State University campus on January 28, 2023. Congratulations to Jarad and the team!
Department participated in online research exchange with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)On August 15 and 16, 2022, the Department of Statistics and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) engaged in an online research exchange meeting. Faculty and graduate students from Iowa State and researchers from PNNL presented 25 talks and discussed research problems with the goal of identifying areas of common interest, complementary expertise, and opportunities for mutually beneficial collaborations. Thanks to ISU Statistics graduate Karl Pazdernik (PhD, 2012), now Senior Data Scientist and Team Lead at PNNL, for initiating this event!
Alicia Carriquiry invited to join Committee of Statistical Editors with Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesThe Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has established a new editorial committee, called the Committee of Statistical Editors. Alicia Carriquiry, Distinguished Professor and President’s Chair in Statistics, was invited to join the inaugural committee and began a three-year term on September 1, 2022.
The Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence (CSAFE) was invited to join other organizations, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the American Society of Crime Lab Directors, the Defense Forensics and Biometrics Agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in the United States Technical Advisory Board to the International Standards Organization (ISO) Technical Group 272, the part of the ISO that sets worldwide standards for forensic practice. Alicia Carriquiry, Distinguished Professor, President’s Chair in Statistics, and CSAFE director, joined a United States delegation that traveled to Denmark in early October to represent U.S. interests in standards discussions.
Ranjan Maitra receives National Institutes of Health grant
Ranjan Maitra, Statistics Professor and Associate Chair for Research, is the Principal Investigator of a new grant from the National Institutes of Health titled “Improving functional fMRI Analysis via Integrated One-step Tensor-variate Methodology”. Congratulations to Professor Maitra on his newly funded research project!
Derrick Rollins retirementAfter more than 30 years as a faculty member in Iowa State University’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Department of Statistics, University Professor Derrick Rollins will retire later this month. Dr. Rollins has won many awards during his time at Iowa State. Examples include the Iowa State University Foundation Award for Early Achievement in Teaching, the National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellows Award, the Iowa State University Program for Women in Science and Engineering Anna Pate Mentoring Award, the American Association for the Advancement of Science Mentor Award, the Iowa State University Presidential Service Award, the Regents Faculty Excellence Award, and the “You Make This Class Bearable” Award, which he won twice. Dr. Rollins has served as a mentor and as an advisor to many students and co-authored around 90 refereed publications. In addition to teaching chemical engineering courses, Dr. Rollins has taught statistics courses for engineering majors and for graduate students majoring in other scientific fields. Congratulations to University Professor Derrick Rollins on an outstanding career and best wishes for a wonderful retirement!
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