FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS
NEWSLETTER FALL 2014
Message from the Chairman
The 2013-2014 academic year was
very successful for the department.
Xufeng Niu
Fifty-four new students joined the
department this fall and our total
number of graduate students is
now 137. We developed a
Statistical Data Science major
program which will begin in Fall
2015. The new program, mainly
designed by Elizabeth Slate and
Dan McGee, will award a Masters in
Statistics and focus on preparing
professionals who are
knowledgeable in applied analytics
and can manage as well as analyze
“big data.” The degree may be
completed in three semesters and
requires 32 credit units.
Students enrolled in this program will
obtain not only a background in
applied
statistical methods, but also
, sufficient proficiency in the software
packages SAS and R to take on data
management and analysis projects
immediately for the most common scenarios
facing
data-driven decisions in government and
industry. A SAS certificate offered jointly
with the SAS Institute may be obtained
simultaneously.
This year we successfully recruited Dr. Xin
(Henry) Zhang, Ph.D. 2014 from the
Department of
Statistics, University of Minnesota. Dr.
Zhang’s research areas include efficient
estimation procedures in multivariate
parameter estimation and prediction;
multivariate statistical analysis in high-
dimensional
settings; regression graphics and data
visualization; and sufficient dimension
reduction in regression.
Our faculty have received many
prestigious honors, awards, and promotions
in the 2013-2014 academic year. Eric
Chicken was promoted to full professor in
2014, and Yiyuan She was promoted to
associate professor with tenure in 2014.
With an outstanding record in research and
creativity, Anuj Srivastava was awarded the
,title of Distinguished Research Professor at
FSU in the spring of 2014. He was also
selected for a 2014-2015 Fulbright U.S.
Scholar award and was elected to the rank
of Fellow in the International Association for
Pattern Recognition (IAPR). In the spring
semester of this year, Yiyuan She received
a NSF Faculty Early Career Development
(CAREER) Award. Both Anuj’s Fulbright
Award and Yiyuan’s Early Career Award
have been recognized by FSU as
Extraordinary Accomplishments.
Our graduate students also received many
prestigious awards during their study in the
department. For example, Qian Xie
(supervised by Anuj Srivastava) received
the FSU 2013-2014 Graduate Student
Research and Creativity Awards which is
awarded to only five outstanding graduate
students each
year; Gary
Gramajo and
Felicia Griffin
won McKnight
Dissertation
Fellowships for
2014-15; we
have three
Department of Statistics 2014 Group Photo
, Legacy
Fellowship
holders (Collin
Dougher, Kelly
Findley, and
Albert Steppi);
and Jason
Cleveland and
Zhengwu Zhang
received
presentation
awards at the
Florida
Chapter of the
ASA Annual
Meeting in 2014.
We have also begun to build
partnerships with
industry thanks
to our alumni
and current
faculty. These
partnerships
provide
internships and
valuable work
experience to
our students and
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS
NEWSLETTER FALL 2014
Message from the Chairman
The 2013-2014 academic year was
very successful for the department.
Xufeng Niu
Fifty-four new students joined the
department this fall and our total
number of graduate students is
now 137. We developed a
Statistical Data Science major
program which will begin in Fall
2015. The new program, mainly
designed by Elizabeth Slate and
Dan McGee, will award a Masters in
Statistics and focus on preparing
professionals who are
knowledgeable in applied analytics
and can manage as well as analyze
“big data.” The degree may be
completed in three semesters and
requires 32 credit units.
Students enrolled in this program will
obtain not only a background in
applied
statistical methods, but also
, sufficient proficiency in the software
packages SAS and R to take on data
management and analysis projects
immediately for the most common scenarios
facing
data-driven decisions in government and
industry. A SAS certificate offered jointly
with the SAS Institute may be obtained
simultaneously.
This year we successfully recruited Dr. Xin
(Henry) Zhang, Ph.D. 2014 from the
Department of
Statistics, University of Minnesota. Dr.
Zhang’s research areas include efficient
estimation procedures in multivariate
parameter estimation and prediction;
multivariate statistical analysis in high-
dimensional
settings; regression graphics and data
visualization; and sufficient dimension
reduction in regression.
Our faculty have received many
prestigious honors, awards, and promotions
in the 2013-2014 academic year. Eric
Chicken was promoted to full professor in
2014, and Yiyuan She was promoted to
associate professor with tenure in 2014.
With an outstanding record in research and
creativity, Anuj Srivastava was awarded the
,title of Distinguished Research Professor at
FSU in the spring of 2014. He was also
selected for a 2014-2015 Fulbright U.S.
Scholar award and was elected to the rank
of Fellow in the International Association for
Pattern Recognition (IAPR). In the spring
semester of this year, Yiyuan She received
a NSF Faculty Early Career Development
(CAREER) Award. Both Anuj’s Fulbright
Award and Yiyuan’s Early Career Award
have been recognized by FSU as
Extraordinary Accomplishments.
Our graduate students also received many
prestigious awards during their study in the
department. For example, Qian Xie
(supervised by Anuj Srivastava) received
the FSU 2013-2014 Graduate Student
Research and Creativity Awards which is
awarded to only five outstanding graduate
students each
year; Gary
Gramajo and
Felicia Griffin
won McKnight
Dissertation
Fellowships for
2014-15; we
have three
Department of Statistics 2014 Group Photo
, Legacy
Fellowship
holders (Collin
Dougher, Kelly
Findley, and
Albert Steppi);
and Jason
Cleveland and
Zhengwu Zhang
received
presentation
awards at the
Florida
Chapter of the
ASA Annual
Meeting in 2014.
We have also begun to build
partnerships with
industry thanks
to our alumni
and current
faculty. These
partnerships
provide
internships and
valuable work
experience to
our students and
