Dr. Amanda S. Hering, associate professor of statistics at Baylor University, will receive the 2017 Early Investigator Award from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and the Environment (ENVR). The award citation notes Hering’s “exceptional contributions to statistical methodology for the analysis of large, complex, multivariate spatial data with broad application; collaborative research relating to the distribution and classification of wind fields, hydrology and groundwater management; mentorship of students ranging from K-12 outreach programs to post-graduate advising; and service to the profession.”

“I’m very honored to receive this award and to join past recipients who I admire and respect. I’m thankful for my colleagues who supported my nomination and also for my collaborators who have brought so many engaging and interesting problems to my desk over the years,” Hering said. “As Christians, I feel that it is our responsibility to be good stewards of the environment and the resources in it so that we can lead healthy and sustainable lives. As a statistician, my goal has been and will continue to be to make the best use of often limited data to find patterns, identify relationships, and make predictions while simultaneously quantifying uncertainty.”

Hering earned a BS degree in mathematics from Baylor in 1999, then went on to earn an MS in statistics from Montana State University and a PhD in statistics from Texas A&M University. She spent seven years as an assistant professor at the Colorado School of Mines before joining the Baylor faculty in the fall of 2016.

The American Statistical Association said it initiated the Early Investigator Award “largely to highlight and emphasize the cross-disciplinary focus of statistics and the environment” and to “encourage greater participation and study in statistics and the environment.”