Yihua Cai
Department: Mathematics
Degree pursuing: M.S. Statistics
Background: I have been very fortunate to work with many outstanding statisticians in Statistics and Scientific Computation Division. SSC offers great training program which gives us opportunities to access various datasets and models. Working with professional statisticians, we learned to perform consulting service and help our clients solve their questions. Practicing theoretical knowledge in consulting service helps me gain better understanding of statistical theories. SSC also offers lots of resources such as summer institute, short courses, which give people a good learning experience.
I am interested in wavelet and Bayesian methods in downscaling climate model ensembles.
Naveen Eluru
Department: Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering (Transportation)
Degree pursuing: Ph.D.
Background: I am a PhD student in the department of Civil Engineering majoring in Transportation. We study how travel behavior affects transportation outcomes employing statistical techniques. The transportation research field has many distinct occasions where individuals make choices such as travel mode choice, vehicle ownership choice, residential location choice. We work on developing advanced econometric models to better understand these choices. The models we work on include regression, hazard duration, duration discrete choice models, discrete continuous, and multiple-discrete models.
Shujuan Feng
Department: Mathematics
Degree pursuing: M.S.Statistics
Background: I received my master’s in chemistry from the Beijing Normal University in China and got some experience about the medicine synthesis and analysis in organic and analytical chemistry. During the 2 year’s study and research in nutritional sciences at UT, I got opportunities to learn several topics in statistics and found myself really into it. So I transfer to the statistics program to do further study.
My interest area in statistics: Regression, Survival analysis, Insurance statistics, time series, Bayesian statistics, environmental statistics, Simulation and modeling.
I love nature and staying close to it. One of my favorite activities is enjoying the beauty of nature with my family.
Seong-Hyeon (Sung) Kim
Department: Educational Psychology
Degree pursuing: Ph.D. (Graduated)
Background: After graduation, I received a position at the Fuller Theological Seminary, which has an American Psychological Association approved clinical psychology program. I will work as a tenure-track assistant provide statistical consulting for the faculty.
I am interested in latent variable modeling such as SEM and mixture modeling as well as
HLM. I also like item response theory and psychological test development.
Jeff LaMondia
Department: Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
Degree pursuing: PhD in Transportation Engineering
Background: I received my BSE in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Connecticut in 2005 and my MSE in transportation civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006. I am currently completing my PhD in transportation civil engineering at UT Austin, with the ultimate goal of becoming a university professor. My specific area of expertise is in travel demand modeling, in which I study what (and how) sociodemographics and spatial factors influence our travel behavior and decision making. My dissertation focuses on developing models of leisure activity involvement and associated travel. As such, I use a variety of statistical methods to model travel behavior, including regression, discrete choice logit analysis, and agent-based simulation.
Jing Li
Department: Sociology
Degree pursuing: Ph.D.
Background: My major in sociology is demography, which emphasizes on using large-scale surveys such as census data. So it is not surprising that my master report in statistics was on survey methodology. My interest is to use statistical methods to model and interpret the real world. I believe that with substantive knowledge, statistics can make a difference. Generalized linear models, structural equation modeling, survival analyses, multi-level analysis, longitudinal data analyses are statistical tools that I have been using the most. Bayesian data analysis and time series are things that I have been learning since last year and become very interested in. When I am not crunching numbers, running statistical programs or writing my dissertation, I enjoy teaching statistics and research methods to students.
Connor P. Principe
Department: Psychology
Degree pursuing: Ph.D., developmental psychology
Background: I completed my B.A. at Seattle University in 2002 and enrolled in the graduate program at the University of Texas at Austin in the fall of 2005. My research interests are in examining the preconscious interactions of cognition and emotion to social stimuli that facilitate the development and maintenance of stereotypic attitudes and prejudice. My interest in statistics directly relates to helping me solve the problems inherent the data I collect: highly non-normal electrophysiological correlates of affect. As such, I am most interested in bootstrapping to overcome violated regression assumptions and multi-level modeling to correctly account for affective data nested within individuals.
Samuel V. Scarpino
Department: Integrative Biology
Degree pursuing: PhD in Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior
Background: The primary focus of my dissertation research involves using statistical and computational methods to study sex chromosome evolution. Examples of the types of questions I am interested in are: How can patterns of genetic variation in extant populations be used to ask/answer questions about the types of selection that have operated and are operating in those populations? What is the role of sexually antagonistic genes in sex chromosome evolution? Why do some species have recombining sex chromosomes and others do not? What processes lead to systems of genetic sex determination? In addition, I work on issues in epidemiology involving emerging infectious diseases and disease monitoring (HIV, Flu, Ebola, and Bovine TB) and the evolution of chromosome number in flowering plants.
I was born in San Marcos, TX, went to high school in Indianapolis, IN, and earned a bachelors of science in biology from Indiana University.
Ipek Nese Sener
Department: Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering (Transportation)
Degree pursuing: Ph.D.
Background: My ultimate research goal is to contribute toward enhanced modeling frameworks to support the development of sustainable transportation systems, therefore improving the contribution of our transportation systems to the economy and social welfare. Throughout my career, I hope to inspire younger generations of transportation researchers and professionals.
Yla Tausczik
Department: Psychology
Degree pursuing: Ph.D.
Background: I am pursuing a doctoral degree in psychology, under the supervision of Dr. James Pennebaker. My research interests are in using language to understand group dynamics. To that end, I am interested in statistical strategies used in linguistic analysis tools and social network analysis.
Huai-Hsuan Cheryl Tseng
Department: Educational Psychology
Degree pursuing: Ph.D.
Background: My major course work has been completed in Psychometrics, with a minor in Statistics. I received my en-route M.A. in Program Evaluation from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008. I am currently working on my dissertation.
Dandan Wang
Department: Educational Psychology (Quantitative Methods)
Degree pursuing: Ph.D.
Background: I am a fifth year doctoral student in the Department of Educational Psychology (Area III: Quantitative Methods). My research interest includes correlation and regression, meta analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM). Currently I am conducting research in investigating the technique that is employed in group comparisons of latent variables.
Lisa Yarnell
Department: Educational Psychology (Quantitative Methods)
Degree pursuing: Ph.D.
Background: I am a doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Psychology. I have also completed the Graduate Portfolio in Applied Statistical Modeling through the Division of Statistics and Scientific Computation. My expertise is analysis of large data sets and application of statistics to problems of health and human development, including achievement, financial well-being, and disease. In my dissertation, I use multi-sample structural equation modeling to create and examine measurement and structural models of perceived and actual socioeconomic status (SES), and the psychosocial resources that mediate the effect of SES on health. I am pursuing a postdoctoral position that will give me additional training in the use of applied statistics in the fields of sociology and economics. My goal is to apply my training in a permanent, statistics- and data-focused research position at an organization dedicated to positive health and human development, such as NIH or the Urban Institute.