Dear Colleagues,

I’m delighted to announce that Alice Paul, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, has been appointed as the Director of the Undergraduate Statistics Concentration, effective July 1, 2024. She will succeed Roee Gutman, Professor of Biostatistics, who is the founding director of the concentration and has served as its director since 2012.

During Roee’s tenure as concentration director, the program has had 57 graduates and has experienced steady growth in the past few years. Starting with 3 concentrators in 2012, the program has a current enrollment of 17 for AY 2024-25. This year saw one of our larger classes, with 12 students enrolled and 5 receiving their Sc.B. in Statistics.  

With support from Dean Jha, the School and the department are committed to growing the concentration. With the explosive growth in data science and data technology, the importance of rigorous training in statistical science has never been more important. Alice will be responsible for reviewing the current curriculum, recommending updates or revisions as needed, expanding recruitment efforts, and identifying opportunities for students to take advantage of our fifth-year masters program in biostatistics.  

Alice Paul was recruited to Brown in 2020. She received her Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell University in 2017 before completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Brown’s Data Science Institute. Before her tenure at Brown, she served as an Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at Olin College of Engineering. Alice’s research interests span algorithms, optimization, data science, and education, focusing on the design and analysis of optimization algorithms for machine learning, with applications in clustering, variable selection, risk models, and shared mobility systems. At Brown, she was honored with the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Classroom Teaching in the School of Public Health in 2022. Additionally, she authored the online book "Mastering Health Data Science Using R," with plans for an extended print version. Alice is also a member of the external advisory board for the NSF Institute Artificial Intelligence for Optimization and serves on the editorial board for the INFORMS Journal Transactions on Education.

On behalf of the department, I express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to Roee for leading the establishment of the concentration and to providing expert and dedicated leadership for the past twelve years. Roee’s contributions have positioned the concentration for ongoing success.  I also look forward to working with Alice in this important leadership role.

Sincerely,

Joseph Hogan, Sc.D.
Chair of Biostatistics
Carole and Lawrence Sirovich Professor of Public Health, Professor of Biostatistics