Ronald D. Fricker, Jr.

Ronald D. Fricker, Jr. is the Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs at Virginia Tech and a Professor of Statistics in the Department of Statistics, College of Science. He joined Virginia Tech in 2015 as Department Head, later serving as Senior Associate Dean and Interim Dean of the College of Science. Previously, he held roles at the Naval Postgraduate School, RAND Corporation, and U.S. Navy. His research focuses on statistical methods for disease surveillance, biosurveillance, and statistical process control, with over 100 publications and two influential books on the topic.

Fricker earned 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 U.S. Naval Academy. He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and American Association for the Advancement of Science, and serves on the National Academies’ Board on Mathematical Sciences and Analytics.

His advisory work includes leading a multidisciplinary team modeling COVID-19 impacts at Virginia Tech and advising the New River Valley Regional Safety and Health Task Force. Major grants include DARPA funding for social behavior modeling and NSF support for environmental justice studies. His expertise spans public health, military operations research, and data-driven policy analysis.