Dennis’s talk takes place on Wednesday, Feb. 25 in the Behavioral & Social Sciences building, room 166 at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
A professor in the University of Idaho’s departments of Fish & Wildlife Sciences and Statistical Science, Dennis’s talk will address pertinent questions like:
What course is more reviled by college students than the introductory statistics course? Why are departments of statistics less common than other science departments at universities? Why do graduate students (not to mention, professors) in many scientific disciplines confess insecurity, apprehension, and confusion about the statistical analyses in their research? Why do so many university departments attempt to teach their own statistics courses? Why is the history of statistics, a discipline that made possible the amazing twentieth century scientific and technical developments of modern life, so invisible and ignored in accounts of the history of science?
The presentation will explore these questions in relation to the unique interdisciplinary role of statistics in modern life. The presentation will offer an opportunity for the university and community to discuss the organization and future of statistics education in the sciences and social sciences, along with advice for how scientists-in-training should structure their study of statistics.
Dennis, who earned his doctorate in Ecology from Pennsylvania State University’s University Park campus, was previously a distinguished research fellow at UC Davis’s Bodega Marine Laboratory. An author of dozens of per-reviewed journal articles, Dennis is also the author of the texts “The R Student Companion,” published in 2012, and a co-author of “Chaos in Ecology: Experimental Nonlinear Dynamics,” published in 2003. His academic interests include statistical ecology, biometrics, mathematical modeling, theoretical ecology, conservation biology, and population dynamics. His career has specialized in applications of statistics, mathematics, and computer simulation in ecology and natural resources management. His work has been discussed in the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, and beyond.
The Lamberson Ecology Lecture Series is hosted by HSU’s Department of Mathematics and takes its name and funding from Roland Lamberson, professor of mathematics at Humboldt State from 1980 to 2004. The event is sponsored by the College of Natural Resources & Sciences.