As we look back on 2019, it's been a year filled with fascinating discoveries and big developments in the College of Natural Sciences and beyond. Read on to see some of the highlights from this year in Texas Science.
As the year draws to a close, we're looking back on highlights of 2019, including the arrival and hiring of dozens of new tenured and tenure-track faculty members in the College of Natural Sciences. Below are some of the stellar scientists and mathematicians new to our college community.
Advances in machine learning are announced every day, but efforts to fundamentally rethink the core algorithms of AI are rare.
Abhra Sarkar, assistant professor of statistics and data sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, was awarded the 2018 Mitchell Prize by the International Society for Bayesian Analysis in August for his research in animal vocalization modelling.
Boosting academic success does not have to derive from new teachers or curriculum; it can also come from changing students' attitudes about their abilities through a short online intervention, according to the latest findings from the National Study of Learning Mindsets published in Nature on Aug. 7. Faculty in the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences contributed to the research.
As a new academic year approaches, we aim to introduce you to some of the scientists and mathematicians in our community, especially faculty who joined our UT community recently. First up: Corwin Zigler, associate professor in UT Austin's Department of Statistics and Data Sciences and in the Dell Medical School's Department of Women's Health.
Kate Calder, currently a professor of statistics and co-director of the Mathematical Biosciences Institute at Ohio State University, will be the new chair of UT Austin's Department of Statistics and Data Sciences (SDS), beginning in the fall. Calder, who will be on campus this month for an in-depth public conversation about computational health April 30th, is an award-winning statistician.
Astronomer Keely Finkelstein and data scientist Kristin Harvey are among eight University of Texas at Austin faculty members named as recipients of the 2018-19 President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award. The award recognizes the university's educational innovators who demonstrate exceptional undergraduate teaching in the core curriculum, including signature courses, and engage with curriculum reform and educational innovation.
With the new academic year in full swing, there are some new faces around the College of Natural Sciences. Meet the 20 new tenured and tenure-track faculty members, whose expertise ranges from astrophysics to nutrition to mathematics.
Think about some of the most important decisions people make – who to hire for a job, which kind of treatment to give a cancer patient, how much jail time to give a criminal. Statistics and Data Sciences faculty member James Scott says we humans are pretty lousy at making them.
Read our publication, The Texas Scientist, a digest covering the people and groundbreaking discoveries that make the College of Natural Sciences one of the most amazing and significant places on Earth.
