NISS Announces Its New Director is Nell Sedransk

Nell Sedransk and Mary Batcher

NISS announced that its new Director is Dr. Nell Sedransk. The announcement was made by Chairwoman Mary Batcher.

"The search committee felt that Nell was the best person for this position. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the role of Director and has done a tremendous job restructuring the organization this past year to help ensure its future success," noted Batcher.

In her new role, Sedransk will lead the institute into its second quarter century with its current foundation of statistical research and of service to the NISS Affiliate organizations from academia, government and industry. "I am very pleased to have this opportunity to help NISS continue to grow and thrive," said Sedransk. "I look forward to the coming months as we begin to focus on increasing research activities, expanding the postdoctoral fellowship program and engaging with new collaborators and clients for NISS.”

Sedransk served as Acting Director since September 2014, having been Associate Director since 2005.  She came to NISS from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) where she was Chief of the Statistical Engineering Division.  Since receiving her PhD from Iowa State University, she has spent much of her career in academia where she directed 5 MS and 7 PhD students. Her research contributions in the areas of statistical theory and application of statistics to medicine, immunology, engineering, social science and education include more than 100 primary research publications and co-authorship of 4 books.  At NISS she has continued to mentor postdoctoral fellows (10 NISS, 1 SAMSI and 1 prior to NISS) and to engage in statistical methodological research. She also serves as Associate Director of the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute.  As NISS Director she will be based in the Washington DC office.

About NISS

The National Institute of Statistical Sciences was established in 1990 by the national statistics societies and the Research Triangle universities and organizations, with the mission to identify, catalyze and foster high-impact, cross-disciplinary and cross-sector research involving the statistical sciences. NISS is dedicated to strengthening and serving the national statistics community, most notably by catalyzing community members’ participation in applied research driven by challenges facing government and industry. NISS also provides career development opportunities for statisticians and scientists, especially those in the formative stages of their careers. In particular, NISS has appointed more that 70 postdoctoral fellows with graduate training in statistics, computer science, mathematics, environmental sciences, psychometrics and transportation. NISS is located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

For more information about NISS, go to the website www.niss.org. You can also learn more about NISS by following our Twitter account, @NISSSAMSI, join the NISS group on LinkedIn and on Facebook

Tuesday, September 22, 2015 by Jamie Nunnelly