Thomas Rusch

PD Dr. Thomas Rusch serves as Deputy Head of the Competence Center for Empirical Research Methods at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna), where he provides statistical consultation and supports faculty and graduate students in applying appropriate statistical methodologies. He has also taught at Harvard University (2019-2021) and FH Technikum, delivering courses in applied statistics, data analysis, computational statistics, and related fields.

His educational background includes:

• Habilitation ("Venia Docendi") in Statistics, Vienna University of Economics and Business (2021)
• Doctoral studies in Social and Economic Sciences, majoring in Statistics, Vienna University of Economics and Business (2012)
• Master's degree in Statistics, University of Vienna (2010)
• Graduated with a degree in Psychology, University of Vienna (2008)
• Bachelor's degree in Statistics, University of Vienna (2007)

Dr. Rusch's research focuses on improving various aspects of modern data analysis, with particular emphasis on discrete data analysis, data mining and statistical learning, exploratory data analysis and visualization, multivariate statistics, natural language processing, and psychometrics. His work bridges statistical methodology with applications in social and behavioral sciences, especially business research and youth mental health. He is particularly known for his contributions to multidimensional scaling, clustering algorithms, and psychometric modeling.

His recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward developing and applying advanced statistical methods to solve real-world problems. His work spans computational statistics, with a focus on R programming implementations, categorical data analysis, and applications in clinical psychology and business analytics. Many of his recent papers address challenges in data visualization, model stability, and the application of machine learning techniques to social science data.

His scientific achievements have been recognized with multiple WU Awards for Outstanding Research Achievements (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022).

As a statistical consultant, Dr. Rusch has advised numerous faculty members and graduate students on research methodology and data analysis. He has also been active in developing statistical software, particularly R packages for data analysis and visualization. His collaborative work extends to international projects, including research on youth mental health interventions in Kenya.

He is actively involved in organizing academic events, such as the Vienna Workshop on Data and Model Visualisation, and serves as a reviewer for prominent journals in computational statistics.