Department of Statistics’ Robert Gramacy named Fellow by American Statistical Association

Robert Gramacy, a professor in the Department of Statistics, part of the Virginia Tech College of Science, has been named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.

An affiliate member of the College of Science’s Academy of Integrated Sciences’ Computational Modeling and Data Analytics program, Gramacy focuses his research on real-data analysis where current solutions are inefficient and thus skimp on fidelity. He seeks to identify new models, methods, and algorithms, while remaining grounded in the needs of a motivating application as he develops new general-purpose software for the at-large scientific community.

Before joining Virginia Tech in 2016, Gramacy was an associate professor of econometrics and statistics at the Booth School of Business, and a fellow of the Computation Institute, both at the University of Chicago. He earned dual bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and computer science in 2001; a master’s degree in computer science in 2003, and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics and statistics in 2005, all from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

According to its website, the American Statistical Association (ASA) is the world’s largest community of statisticians, supporting excellence in the development, application and dissemination of statistical science. Members of ASA work in industry, government and academia in more than 90 countries around the world. ASA Fellows must make outstanding professional contributions to the field of statistical science, as well as exhibit leadership within the field. Due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s ASA meeting, scheduled for August, will be held virtually online, rather than in person.

Earlier this year, Gramacy published a new book, "Surrogates," a textbook focusing on the interface between machine learning, spatial statistics, computer simulation, meta-modeling, design of experiments, and optimization. In 2020, he also serves as president of ASA’s Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences, and as president elect for ASA’s Uncertainty Quantification Interest Group.