About the Department

Arts & Sciences’ new Department of Statistics and Data Science will provide the foundation for digital transformation across a range of disciplinary areas, leveraging the emerging opportunities of computational and data science and Washington University’s deep strength in the social sciences.

Our outstanding scholars will transform the university intellectual community not only through their own activities and achievements but also through synergistic collaborations with existing faculty and departments across Arts & Sciences, the McKelvey School of Engineering, the School of Medicine, and other schools at the university. 

The Department values foundational as well as transdisciplinary scholarship, and will focus on using data to offer solutions to some of the most complex global issues.

Two new NSF Awards to SDS Faculty this year

The National Science Foundation awarded grants to two Statistics and Data Science faculty members, Professors Nan Lin and José Figueroa-López this year.

Department of Statistics and Data Science gains momentum with new hires

Department of Statistics and Data Science gains momentum with new hires

Department chair Xuming He discusses the new faculty and big ideas that are energizing the department.

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Recent News

Bo Li appointed as Co-Director of TRIADS

Bo Li, Stanley A. Sawyer Professor in Statistics and Data Science, was recently appointed as Co-director of The Transdisciplinary Institute in Applied Data Sciences (TRIADS) at Washington University in St. Louis. 

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Headshot of Feng Sheng Hu

The Computational Age has offered us access to incredible stores of data about our world and the people in it. Our new Department of Statistics and Data Science will explore the myriad ways this information can unravel issues and unearth solutions for society's benefit.

―Feng Sheng HuRichard G. Engelsmann Dean of Arts & Sciences

The Department of Statistics and Data Science proudly presented a seminar with Nobel Laureate Lars Peter Hansen on October 17, 2023, titled "Risk, Ambiguity, and Misspecification: Decision Theory, Robust Control, and Statistics." 

Lars Peter Hansen is the David Rockefeller Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. He is a leading expert in economic dynamics who works at the forefront of economic thinking and modeling, drawing approaches from macroeconomics, finance, and statistics. He is the recipient of the 2013 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, also known as the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

This event was co-sponsored by the Center for Dynamic Economics, the Transdisciplinary Institute in Applied Data Sciences, and the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy