In this first newsletter of the Department of Statistics and Data Science (SDS), which you can view in its entirety here, I am pleased to share highlights from the past year and a half. Supported by the Arts & Sciences Strategic Plan at WashU, we have been building a data science hub for WashU and a premier research department of which I am honored to serve as the inaugural chair.

I want to begin by recognizing our esteemed faculty. SDS has recruited two teaching faculty and more than ten tenure-track faculty at various ranks. Including our statistics colleagues from the former Department of Mathematics and Statistics, we will start Fall 2025 with more than 20 faculty members. They are internationally renowned leaders of their fields, including Professors Soumen Lahiri and Bo Li, as well as some of the brightest junior scholars in statistics. Our new faculty bring with them expertise and passion in several emerging areas of statistics and data science: machine learning, spatial statistics, Bayesian statistics, and causal inference. Our faculty are ready to engage in interdisciplinary data science scholarship in marketing, social sciences, public health, environmental science, artificial intelligence, and biomedical research.

We serve over 100 A&S students majoring in Statistics or Data Science. Last year, our graduate program, including the PhD and master’s programs in Statistics, doubled in size. We are updating our curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to train the next generation of statisticians, data scientists, and other quantitative, data-driven leaders. We have introduced new courses and topics such as data analysis with Python, machine learning methods for biological data, and data science in the humanities. Our PhD program now offers more pathways to completion, including an option with more focus on statistical computing.

We are committed to serving more WashU students in the years ahead. Our programs will be led by Professor Joe Guinness, a WashU alumnus, as Director of Undergraduate Studies; Professor Nan Lin, a veteran of the WashU faculty, as Director of the Master’s Program; and Professor Jose Figueroa-Lopez, an expert in stochastic processes and statistical finance, as Director of Graduate Studies.

I invite alumni, friends, and prospective students to stay in touch with us. If you are attending the Joint Statistical Meetings 2025 in Nashville, please visit our WashU Alumni & Friends Reception. We foster an inclusive environment, and I am grateful to our faculty, staff, and students who spearhead the collaborative culture of this young department. I am proud of what we have accomplished together in these first two years and confident that we will be in a much stronger position two years from now. With your continued support, we will aim higher and achieve more.

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