On October 5th, department staff, faculty, and their families met up for a group hike on the Reactor Woods trail in North Ames. After the hike, participants enjoyed homemade ice cream provided by Karen Nettleton. 

The department is very pleased to offer our students financial support from the new Ronald J. and S. Dorè Mead Fund for Student Experience in Statistics.

Miranda Tilberg (née Tilton) (pictured left) worked as a statistical consultant in fall 2020 with the support of the fund. Her favorite projects included detecting manufacturing defects under realistic industrial conditions, modeling harmful algal blooms in lakes, and predicting crop loss in African mangos due to harvest techniques.

Debosmita Kundu (pictured right) was supported by the fund in fall 2021 to improve probability models for gene sequences in biological samples by using a multi-type branching process. The overall goal of her work is to improve the identification and quantification of gene sequences

On September 5th, Department Chair Dan Nettleton hosted a gathering at his house to welcome first-year Statistics graduate students for homemade ice cream.

Ranjan Maitra has begun a two-year term as Associate Chair for Research for the Department of Statistics.  The intent of this new position is to support faculty in ways that will strengthen the department's research enterprise and help faculty obtain external funding for their research.  Professor Maitra joined the faculty of the Department of Statistics in 2003.  He is the winner of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and has received external funding from other federal sponsors, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Institute of Justice, the National Institutes of Health, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The department hosted a fall picnic with games and food for students, staff, and faculty. The picnic featured lawn games and boxed lunches in the Maple Shelter at Brookside Park.