Andrew Finley

Andrew O. Finley is a Professor at Michigan State University with joint appointments in Forestry and Statistics & Probability. He leads the Geospatial Lab, focusing on environmental statistics, Bayesian modeling, and spatial analysis. His research integrates hierarchical models to enhance ecological and forestry data analysis, with applications in forest inventory, carbon monitoring, and biodiversity assessment.

Education includes a PhD from the University of Minnesota (2007), MS in Statistics (2007) and Forestry (2003), and a BS from Penn State (2000). He has held NSF, NASA, and USDA grants totaling over $10M, advancing carbon monitoring and statistical methodologies.

Research interests span Bayesian statistics, spatial-temporal modeling, and computational tools for large datasets. Notable contributions include the spBayes and spNNGP R packages, widely used for spatial analysis. His work has been recognized with ASA awards and fellowships.

Recent projects include assessing western US tree species decline, developing scalable carbon monitoring frameworks, and integrating remote sensing with field data. He advises over 20 graduate students and collaborates globally on ecological and environmental challenges.