Catherine (Kate) Calder

Kate Calder is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. She earned her B.A. in Mathematics from Northwestern University, followed by an M.S. and Ph.D. in Statistics from Duke University. Prior to joining UT in 2019, she held faculty positions at The Ohio State University for 16 years.

• Former co-director of NSF-funded Mathematical Biosciences Institute
• Associate Director of UT’s Population Research Center
• Chair of NIH Analytics and Statistics for Population Research Panel B Study Section
• Area Editor for Annals of Applied Statistics

Her research develops statistical methods for complex data, including spatial statistics, Bayesian modeling, and latent space models for networks. Current projects examine:

• Mobile-tracking data to analyze crime patterns and social ties
• Youth health impacts from non-residential activity spaces
• Exposure assessment through hierarchical pathways models

She has secured funding from NIH, NSF, and federal foundations, and was elected to leadership roles in the American Statistical Association and International Society for Bayesian Analysis. Her work emphasizes practical applications across public health, ecology, and finance.

Notable achievements:

• Tripled department size after joining UT
• Launched Online Master’s in Data Science (2021), surpassing 1,000 students
• Introduced undergraduate major in Data Sciences (2022)