MARIA ALONSO PENA

María Alonso-Peña is an Assistant Professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela, affiliated with the Faculty of Biology and the Department of Statistics, Mathematical Analysis, and Optimization. Her research focuses on nonparametric statistical methods, particularly in circular regression models and their applications in neuroscience and animal behavior analysis. She holds a PhD in Statistics from the University of Santiago de Compostela (2022), with a thesis titled New approaches to nonparametric circular regression models.

• Education: PhD in Statistics (2022), University of Santiago de Compostela
• Research Interests: Nonparametric statistics, circular regression, optimization, and statistical modeling in neuroscience and ecology

Her work bridges theoretical statistics with applied problems, such as analyzing neuronal spike counts and animal escape behavior using advanced circular regression techniques. She has collaborated with institutions like KU Leuven and Universidad de Granada. Recent research includes a grant from the Xunta de Galicia (ED481A-2019/139) for neuroscientific applications.

Key contributions include frameworks for circular local likelihood regression and parametrically guided kernel density estimators for spherical data. These methods address challenges in modeling directional and multimodal datasets, with implications for fields like neuroscience and environmental science.