Zhengyuan Zhu, professor of statistics, Kingland Fellow in Data Analytics, and director of the Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology (CSSM), was selected as the interim chair of the Department of Statistics by Benjamin C. Withers, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Ruth MacDonald, acting dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
For more than 10 years, Zhu has managed CSSM – an innovative collaboration in 1938 between the Statistical Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Statistical Laboratory, established by George W. Snedecor at Iowa State in 1933, was the first center established in the United States to advance statistical research and application.
An elected fellow of the American Statistical Association and International Statistics Institute, Zhu has been honored with multiple outstanding research awards and earned one of the first prestigious LAS Dean’s Professorships.
Zhu’s research focuses on spatial statistics; survey statistics; machine learning; statistical data integration; and applications in environmental science, agriculture, remote sensing, and official statistics. His research reputation has earned support from high-profile federal funders like the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as the Iowa departments of Health and Human Services. Transportation, and Interior Bureau of Land Management.
Zhu’s service as director of CSSM and his extensive internal and external professional service roles have prepared him for his new role as interim department chair. From his service to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization Strategy to Iowa State’s High Performance Computing Advisory Committee, he consistently looks for opportunities for interdisciplinary growth.
“Our department’s greatest strengths are our outstanding people, collegial culture, and broad excellence in research and education,” Zhu said. “We also have a strong tradition of interdisciplinary research, with many faculty leading or participating in joint grants and collaborative projects across campus. I plan to build on these strengths by expanding collaborations in data-driven science and responsible AI, areas where statistics can play a central role in advancing research across disciplines.”
Zhu earned a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Chicago. His term as interim chair will extend through June 30, 2027.
The Department of Statistics is co-administered by LAS and CALS. An announcement of the new CSSM director is forthcoming.
Benjamin C. Withers, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS), has also announced new leadership roles for the Departments of History and World Languages and Cultures.