News
Congratulations to our August 2023 graduates
Aug. 15, 2023—We are thrilled to celebrate the graduations of Chiara Di Gravio, Jared Strauch, and Valerie Welty. Welty defended her dissertation, “On False Discovery Rates for Second-Generation p-Values,” in March. Di Gravio defended her dissertation, “Design and Analysis Methods for Modern Biomedical Studies with Longitudinal Outcomes,” in June. Both dissertations and Strauch’s MS thesis will become...
McGowan receives Young Investigator Award
Aug. 9, 2023—Lucy D’Agostino McGowan, a 2018 graduate of our PhD program, was honored this week at JSM2023 with the Young Investigator Award by the American Statistical Association’s Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences section. McGowan’s award-winning paper “Design Principles for Data Analysis” was published in the Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics online in 2022...
Lotspeich receives David P. Byar Early Career Award
Aug. 8, 2023—#JSM2023 is underway in Toronto, and one of this year’s highlights will be Vanderbilt graduate Sarah Lotspeich (PhD 2021) delivering “Optimal Multi-Wave Validation of Secondary Use Data with Outcome and Exposure Misclassification.” It has been designated the best biometrics paper by an early career investigator (definite as an individual who is currently a student or...
Jamie Joseph wins Anchor Award
Jun. 20, 2023—PhD candidate Jamie Joseph is a 2023 recipient of Vanderbilt University’s Graduate Leadership Anchor Award. Having recently completed her fourth year in the graduate program, Joseph impressed department members with her skills in connecting and inspiring other students even before her studies began (at an open house for prospective students, she organized a get-together for...
2023 Faculty lightning talks
Jun. 19, 2023—Each year, as part of our weekly seminar series, some of our faculty members participate in lightning talks, sharing their areas of interest, current research projects, and potential collaboration opportunities for members of our graduate program. Our master’s and doctoral students gain exposure to different avenues of investigation and ideas for projects that can contribute...
Jamie Joseph’s tribute to Rameela Raman
Jun. 6, 2023—In May, AmStatNews published a compilation of thank-you notes from American Statistical Association members to mentors who made a big difference to them. The feature included a testimonial from PhD candidate and 2022 Commodore Award winner Jamie Joseph about the role associate professor Rameela Raman has played in her success. Raman was one of the...
Chiara Di Gravio dissertation defense – June 9
Jun. 2, 2023—PhD candidate Chiara Di Gravio will defend her dissertation on Friday, June 9, at 8 a.m. Central Time, on-site and online. Her advisors are Jonathan Schildcrout and Ran Tao. All are invited and encouraged to attend. The in-person event will be held in Room 11105 (11th floor) at 2525 West End Avenue. For access to...
Congratulations to our recent graduates
May. 16, 2023—The Graduate School’s Commencement ceremony for recent graduates was held on May 12, 2023. Justin Jacobs, Jackson Resser, Jacquelyn Neal (with advisor Dandan Liu), and Elizabeth Sigworth Westerberg (with advisor Qingxia “Cindy” Chen) received their diplomas. A reception was held at 2525 West End Avenue in the afternoon. A slideshow of photos from both gatherings...
Kang wins Best Data Blitz at VU AD Research Day
Apr. 5, 2023—Congratulations to fourth-year PhD student Kaidi Kang for taking top honors at Vanderbilt’s 4th annual Alzheimer’s Disease Research Day. Out of more than fifty data blitz submissions, “Double Anchoring Events Based Sigmoidal Mixed Model for Alzheimer’s Disease Progression Modeling” was chosen as the best.
Valerie Welty dissertation defense – March 8
Mar. 1, 2023—PhD candidate Valerie F. Welty will defend her dissertation on Wednesday, March 8, at 3 p.m. Central Time, on-site and online. Her advisor is Jeffrey D. Blume. All are invited. The in-person event will be held in Room 11105 (11th floor) at 2525 West End Avenue. For access to the event stream, please contact the...
Elizabeth Sigworth Westerberg dissertation defense – November 2
Oct. 20, 2022—PhD candidate Elizabeth Anne Sigworth Westerberg will be defending her dissertation on Wednesday, November 2, at 10 a.m. Central Time, on-site and online. Her advisor is Qingxia (Cindy) Chen. All are invited. The in-person event will be held in Room 1402 (14th floor) at 2525 West End Avenue. For access to the event stream, please...
Jacquelyn Neal dissertation defense – October 31
Oct. 18, 2022—PhD candidate Jacquelyn Neal will be defending her dissertation on Monday, October 31, at 1 p.m. Central Time, on Zoom. Her advisor is Dandan Liu. All are invited. For access to the event stream, please contact the department at biostatistics[at]vumc[dot]org.
Michael L. Williams dissertation defense – September 30
Sep. 20, 2022—***Updated 9.29. The on-site location is now Room 1502.*** PhD candidate Michael L. Williams will be defending his dissertation on Friday, September 30, at 10:00 a.m. Central Time, on campus (2525 West End Avenue, 15th Floor, Room 1502) and online (contact biostatistics[at]vumc[dot]org for access via Zoom). His advisor is Leena Choi. Using Electronic Health Record...
Megan Hollister Murray dissertation defense
Jun. 27, 2022—PhD candidate Megan Hollister Murray will be defending her dissertation on Wednesday, July 6, at 9:00 a.m. Central Time on Zoom. All are invited. For an invitation to the event, please contact the department at biostatistics[at]vumc[dot]org. On second-generation p-values for equivalence testing and study planning, and flexible false discovery rate computation for classical p-values...
Coleman Harris dissertation defense – May 9
Apr. 19, 2022—PhD candidate Coleman Harris will be defending his dissertation on Monday, May 9, at 9:30 a.m. Central Time. All are invited. To attend the defense, which will take place online, please register in advance.