Meet the Students

Jason is a PhD student and teaching assistant in the Department of Statistics. Originally from Cedar City, UT, he earned his Bachelor’s degree at Southern Utah University. He received his Master’s degree in Statistics at UNL. Jason previously completed an internship with NCS Analytics in Denver, CO. His research interests include machine learning, neural networks, and causal inference. After graduation, Jason plans to work in business analytics.

Kiki Rizki Amalia is originally from Indonesia. She has been working as statistician at BPS Statistics Indonesia. She received a Fulbright Study Grant to pursue her master's degree. She inspired to take Statistics because she intended to dedicate herself to be a statistics lecturer in her country. She hopes that she can create great statisticians who have a deep understanding in the whole business process of statistics, in the future. Beside working as a statistician, she is enjoying her time as life coach. She likes to listen to people and provide coach and feedback if needed.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Brianna is a PhD student and research assistant in the Department of Statistics. Originally from Omaha, NE, she earned her BS in Mathematics and BS in Secondary Education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2013, and received her MS in Statistics from UNL in 2015. Brianna has worked as a TA for STAT 218, a research assistant for the CASNR Dean’s Office, and a statistical collaborator for the SC3L Desk. Her research interests include group/pooled testing and statistical consulting/collaboration. Brianna plans to graduate from UNL in 2019.

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

One thing you may know about China is Kongfu and Shaolin Temple. It is near where I grew up. I went to high school and college in Zhengzhou, a city having over 9 million people. I got BS degree in Food Engineering in China, MS in Biosystems Engineering at Oklahoma. Initially I start Ph.D. studying fermentation process design at UNL. I took a few Statistics courses, had more interest and now I am doing Statistics MS concurrently with my Ph.D. My vision is to use Statistics and Math modeling to boost the research and upgrade the process in fermentation process design.

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 second-year graduate student and Research Assistant in the Department of Statistics. His research interests include statistical computing, experimental design, genetics, and neuroscience. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, he received his BA in psychology from UNL in 2013. In summer 2014 he interned with The Maschhoffs in Carlyle, Illinois, providing statistical support for their genetics department. In his free time he enjoys waterfowl hunting, fly fishing, spending time with family and friends, and traveling.

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 from Mumbai, India. She has done her bachelor’s and Master’s in Statistics from Mumbai University and is currently pursuing her PhD in Statistics at UNL. Her research interests lie in predictive modelling and machine learning techniques. Apart from academics, she is a foodie and loves exploring new places to eat

Emily is a graduate student and teaching assistant 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, genetics, and statistics education. In the summers of 2015 and 2016, she interned at John Deere in the Supply Management and Credit Risk departments. During the summer of 2018, she began research in plant genomics. Emily can often be found working at a local coffee shop in the afternoons.

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.

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.

Thao is from Vietnam. She got her bachelor's in Actuarial Science in 2015. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Statistics. She'd been a graduate teaching assistant for STAT 380 during the first two years of the program. She is now a graduate research assistant, collaborating with the Powers' lab in the Chemistry department to analyze metabolomics data.