Ron Fricker

Ronald D. Fricker, Jr. is the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and a Professor of Statistics at Virginia Tech. He previously served as Head of the Department of Statistics and Interim Dean of the College of Science. Dr. Fricker holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Statistics from Yale University, an M.S. in Operations Research from The George Washington University, and a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy. His research focuses on statistical methods for disease surveillance, biosurveillance, and statistical process control, with over 100 publications and three books.

• Education:
  • Ph.D. and M.A. in Statistics, Yale University
  • M.S. in Operations Research, George Washington University
  • B.S., United States Naval Academy
• Research Interests: Biosurveillance, statistical process control, epidemiological modeling, and public health analytics. His work has addressed pandemic response (e.g., COVID-19 modeling for Virginia Tech) and disease outbreak detection systems.

Dr. Fricker’s scientific awards include Fellowships from the American Statistical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has advised numerous interdisciplinary teams and contributed to initiatives like the New River Valley Regional Safety and Health Task Force during the pandemic. His leadership in academic affairs emphasizes faculty development, diversity, and institutional advancement.

Labs/Teams: Co-led the Virginia Tech COVID Modeling Group and collaborated with the Department of Population Health Sciences.