This endowed chair provides Professor Handcock with the flexibility to pursue emerging research opportunities and strengthen UCLA’s academic leadership in Data Theory. It also allows UCLA to equip the next generation of scholars with deep conceptual foundations rather than just reacting to the future of data science. Please read more about this here.

This project aims to develop new theory and methodology for nonparametric statistical estimation using neural networks. The award will support the related training of graduate and undergraduate students in modern statistical learning and will broaden the participation of high school students through outreach activities.

Complete details of the award are available at this link:

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award?AWD_ID=2541747

Oscar Hernan Madrid Padilla conducts research at the intersection of statistics and machine learning, with interests spanning high-dimensional and nonparametric statistics, deep learning, causal inference, network analysis, graphical models, Bayesian methods, and change-point detection.  He has publications in the top statistics, machine learning, and coding theory journals. A 2026 NSF Career Award that he received supports his work.

There are few things more important to a department than the development and promotion of junior faculty.

Congratulations to Oscar for his promotion!

This Research Training Group, or RTG, is a program designed to build research communities and train future generations of scholars. This will be done through fellowships, workshops, summer schools, seminars and undergraduate research experiences.

For more details please navigate to this webpage:

https://physicalsciences.ucla.edu/ucla-statistics-data-science-secures-2-million-nsf-award-to-train-future-leaders-in-ai-biotechnology-and-data-science/

Distinguished Professor Mark S. Handcock has been appointed the Dunn Family Endowed Chair in Data Theory for a five-year term.

The chair is endowed with $2 million, initially supported by alumnus and entrepreneur Kirk Dunn and his family, with matching support provided through the UCLA Physical Sciences Division. The establishment of the Dunn Chair reflects the shared commitment of the Department of Statistics & Data Science and the Department of Mathematics to advancing Data Theory at UCLA.

Data Theory is an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of statistics, mathematics and computation. UCLA’s Data Theory program, jointly developed by Statistics & Data Science and Mathematics, provides students with a rigorous foundation in the principles underlying data science, including statistical modeling, machine learning, optimization, scientific computation and mathematical analysis.

The program is distinctive in its emphasis on foundations. Handcock said, “The Data Theory major focuses on the fundamental concepts needed to model data and to make sense of data. It prepares graduates to be leaders in industry or academia in the AI era. It is the first major of its kind in the world, both in name and content, with substantial upper-division proof-based mathematics as a key feature.”

Professor Handcock is a leading researcher in social networks and statistical methodology, with broad impact across the social sciences, environmental science, public health and related fields. He has also made substantial and sustained contributions to the establishment and growth of the Data Theory program at UCLA.

“This appointment will allow me to work with faculty and the Data Theory Advisory Board to further develop Data Theory for the age of AI,” Handcock said.

We are proud to share that Sander Greenland, Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology and Statistics, and a longtime joint faculty of our department, has been named a recipient of the 2025–2026 Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professorship Award. This prestigious honor recognizes outstanding research, teaching, and service performed after retirement. Professor Greenland is one of three emeritus faculty selected this year.Since retiring in 2012, Professor Greenland has remained a leading figure in epidemiology, consistently ranked among the world’s most highly cited researchers. His extensive body of work—spanning causal inference, bias analysis, Bayesian methods, and meta-analysis—has had a lasting impact on both methodological development and public health policy worldwide. In addition to publishing more than 90 peer-reviewed papers during his emeritus years, he continues to mentor scholars across institutions, reinforcing UCLA’s standing as a global hub for epidemiologic research and training.

More details are available here.

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Oscar Madrid Padilla, PhD student Junpeng Ren, and PhD alumnus Yik Lun Kei. They are co-authors of a paper that was published in Science (https://science.org). This is the culmination of a 30-year effort to study the conflicts between groups of chimpanzees. This work has been covered by many mainstream media organizations such as the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, etc.

A. Sandel, Y. He, J. Ren, Y. Kei, … O.H. Madrid-Padilla, … J. Mitani. Lethal conflict after group fission in wild chimpanzees. Science, 392(6794).

Link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz4944

In the newest 2026 U.S. News & World Report ranking of Statistics PhD programs, our department has been ranked #12 in the United States:

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/statistics-rankings

The ranking highlights the department’s excellence in research, education, and training of the next generation of statisticians and data scientists. This is made possible by the collective efforts of our faculty, researchers, graduate students, and staff, whose dedication and contributions continue to strengthen the department’s national and international reputation.