Meet the Students

Sarah is a PhD student and teaching assistant in the Department of Statistics. Originally from Papillion, NE, she earned her BS in Civil Engineering at UNL. She received her Master’s in Public Health Biostatistics from UNMC. Sarah studied trends in inflammatory breast cancer through UNMC’s Cancer Epidemiology and Education in Special Populations (CEESP) program. She currently works with Creighton University’s School of Medicine and hopes to continue working with medical students, residents, fellows, and faculty after graduation. Sarah and her husband Scott have four kids.

Ella Burnham is a PhD student in the Statistics Department. She is originally from Spencer, Iowa. She earned her BA in Secondary Mathematics Education from St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN. She is currently a teaching assistant. She is interested in researching statistics education. Ella recently developed an online version of a non-calculus based undergraduate level introductory statistics course with her advisor Dr. Blankenship. During her free time, Ella enjoys spending time with friends, playing with Bugs (her bunny), and baking.

Josh is a Master’s student, intending to pursue a PhD, in the Department of Statistics. He earned his Bachelor’s degree at Wayne State College in Nebraska and received his Master’s degree in Mathematics at the University of South Dakota. His research interests include group testing and he is enjoying exploring other research areas in the department. Josh is open to looking for employment in various fields after graduation. In his spare time, he enjoys listening to audiobooks in economics, climate, and science fiction.

Aleena is currently a First year Masters student at the Department of Statistics and she would love to pursue her PhD degree from UNL. Aleena is originally from India. She completed her undergraduate from St. Xavier's College Kolkata in 2016 and Masters from University of Calcutta in Statistics in 2018. Aleena was also a visiting scholar in Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata for a few months after Graduation. She is currently on a Teaching Assistantship. After graduation, Aleena would like to work in Industry or in a Government firm.

James is a Master’s student from Irvine, California. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at Doane University in Crete, NE. James has previously had a research internship at West Coast Analytics, and he currently has a teaching assistantship. In his free time, he enjoys going out to eat and playing video games.

Kalani is a PhD student and teaching assistant in the Department of Statistics. Originally from Sri Lanka, she earned her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Sri Jayawardenepura in Sri Lanka. She received her Master’s degree in Statistics at UNL. Her research interests include genetics. Kalani plans teach at a university upon graduation. In her spare time, she enjoys playing badminton.

Dean is second-year master’s student and a teaching assistant in the Department of Statistics, and he plans to continue on towards a PhD afterwards. Dean grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire and attended Plymouth State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. During his undergraduate degree, he conducted research in Combinatorial Number Theory, which inspired him to want to continue onto graduate school and do more research. Ideally, Dean would like to do research that can actually be applied, while still using high-level mathematics.

Enakshy is a graduate student and a teaching assistant at the Department of Statistics. Originally, from Kolkata, India, she received her MS in Statistics and Informatics from IIT Kharagpur, India. She had worked in the marketing analytics domain for insurance, telecommunications, and loyalty industries. Her research interests include statistical modeling, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. In her spare time, she loves traveling, pottery and gardening.

Miguel is a PhD student and a research assistant in the Department of Statistics. Originally from the Phillipines, he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Physics from the University of the Phillipines. His research interests include statistics in sports and computational statistics. After graduation, Miguel plans to work in academia or as a statistical consultant for sports statistics. In his spare time, he enjoys playing soccer and basketball and trying out different coffee drinks.

Eduardo is a first year Master's student and a teaching assistant and he would like to pursue a PhD in statistics. Eduardo did his undergraduate at California State University, Chico where he majored in Statistics and Applied Mathematics as well as got a certificate in Data Science. He is originally from Lake Elsinore, California. His current interests are statistics education, Bayesian hierarchical modeling, and group testing. Self-described as not very good/experienced, Eduardo also enjoying cooking in his spare time.

Jessica is a PhD student and teaching assistant in the Department of Statistics. Originally from Andover, Kansas, she earned her Bachelor’s degree at Kansas Wesleyan University and received her MS in Statistics from UNL. Jessica’s research interests include text mining and classification. After graduation, she plans to teach statistics at a university.

Kory is a graduate student and teaching assistant in the Department of Statistics. He earned his BS in Mathematics from South Dakota State University in 2018. In the summer of 2018, he interned at Organic Valley in the Trade Promotions Department. In the spring and summer of 2019, Kory served as a Data Analyst intern at Daktronics working primarily with marketing.

Kelsey is a PhD student and research assistant in the Department of Statistics. Originally from Omaha, NE, she earned her Bachelor’s degree and MS in Statistics at UNL. Kelsey has worked as a Teaching Assistant for STAT 218 and currently works as a research assistant/statistical collaborator at the Statistical Cross-disciplinary Collaboration and Consulting Laboratory in the department. Her research interests include statistical consulting. Kelsey plans to work in statistical consulting, either in academia or industry, upon graduation.

Alison is a Master’s student and teaching assistant in the Department of Statistics. Originally from Papillion, NE, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Rockhurst University in Kansas City, MO. Alison worked for two years as an actuarial intern at Lockton Companies in Kansas City. Her current research interests include econometrics. In her spare time, she enjoys watching Kansas City Royals baseball games and going for walks.

Hanlin is pursuing a Ph.D. in the Department of Statistics. He received his BA in Mathematics and BA in Statistics from University at Buffalo in 2018. His research interests include genomics, machine learning, and big data. In his free time, he likes to travel, go camping, do sports with friends, and spend time with family

Zhenyu is a PhD student in the Department of Statistics and research assistant in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering. He is from Central South China and he graduated from University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Science. His research interests lie in the field of machine learning and image analysis. After graduation, Zhenyu plans to work in a stock company or a bank. Besides academics, he enjoys playing volleyball, soccer, and basketball.

Vamsi is a graduate student at the Department of Statistics. While currently a Master's student, he hopes to pursue a PhD in statistics. Originally from Chennai, India, he graduated with a Master's degree in Mathematical Sciences, majoring in statistics from the University of Hyderabad, India. His research interests involve the combined application of statistics, mathematics and computer science to solving problems in life sciences. Presently, Vamsi is a Graduate Teaching Assistant and has taught STAT 380 and STAT 218.

Zeinab is a PhD student and teaching assistant in the Department of Statistics. Originally from Egypt, she earned her Bachelor’s degree from the College of Economics and Political Sciences at Cairo University. She received her Master’s degrees from Kuwait University and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Her research interests include mathematical modeling in epidemiology and data analysis. After graduation, Zeinab plans to teach and work in data analysis. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family.

Sean is a PhD student and research assistant in the Department of Statistics studying under Dr. Kachman. His current research involves the development and application of statistical methods to study host genetic-microbiome relationships in humans and other animals. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska he received a BA in psychology and MS in statistics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Ved is a PhD student in statistics hailing from New Delhi, India. He did his masters in statistics from the University of Minnesota and his bachelors in statistics from the University of Delhi, India. He has worked as a data scientist Intern with Seagate Technology and as an analytics intern with Travelers Insurance and Hennepin County, Minnesota. His research interests are in the field of recommendation systems. Ved aspires to become a professor in statistics and pursue his zeal for research and teaching.

Sayli is a PhD student and research assistant in the department of Statistics. Originally from Mumbai, India, she earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Statistics from University of Mumbai. Sayli has worked as a teaching assistant for STAT 218 and as a statistical collaborator for the SC3L Desk in the department.  In summer of 2019, she interned at Zoetis in the Biometrics department. Her current research interests include predictive modelling, machine learning and spatial statistics. Sayli is a foodie and enjoys exploring new places to eat. 

Emily is a PhD graduate student and statistical consultant in the Department of Statistics. She earned her BA in Statistics and Secondary Math Education from Winona State University in 2017. Her research interests include design of experiments and student success in higher education. Previously, she has completed internships at John Deere and worked as a research assistant during her summers. After a day in the office, she can often be found working at a local coffee shop in the afternoons.

Rachel is a Master's student and teaching assistant in the Department of Statistics. She is originally from Missouri, and she earned Bachelor's degrees from the University of Chicago in Statistics and Anthropology. She is interested in applying statistics to problems found in the social sciences. In her free time, she enjoys reading and traveling. 

Fei is a PhD student and teaching assistant in the Department of Statistics. He is originally from China and earned his Bachelor’s degree from Renmin University of China. He received his Master’s degree from the University of Connecticut. After graduation, Fei plans to teaching at a university. In his spare time, he enjoys basketball and soccer.

Anita is a PhD student and a teaching assistant at the Department of Statistics. Originally, from Kathmandu, Nepal, she earned a Master’s degree in Statistics from Sam Houston State University in Texas. Her research interests include Computational Statistics and Statistical Modeling in epidemiology and ecology. After graduation, Anita plans to teach at a university or work in a Government firm. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family, exploring art and craft ideas and watching movies.

Liangrui is a PhD student and research assistant in the Department of Statistics. He is originally from Central China and earned his Bachelor’s degree from Wuhan University. He received his Master’s degree from Norther Illinois University. His research interests include multiple testing using an empirical Bayes frame work. After graduation, Liangrui plans to work in finance, healthcare, or accounting. In his spare time, he enjoys playing Chinese chess, watching TV drama, and running.

Kevin is a Master’s student and a teaching assistant. He grew up in Centerville, Utah, married his delightful wife, Audrey, and completed his BS in Statistics at Brigham Young University (BYU). At BYU, Kevin performed research for the university’s football team and a European basketball agency. His research interests are in big data analysis, Bayesian hierarchical modeling, and statistical computing. Previously, he completed a summer internship with Overstock’s email marketing analytics team.

Xinyan Xie is a second-year masters student in the statistics department. She received her bachelors in China and a master’s degree in UNL in the Mechanical Department. Since more and more information can be detected from the data, models and statistics catch my attention. Specifically, Xinyan is interested in finding out the potential information from the image data, such as the expression of people’s face or plant growth condition. What’s more, she is a person who enjoys challenging new stuff. She is currently learning how to skateboard and hope I could be skillful in this thing.