Ursula Laa

Ursula Laa is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Statistics, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) since 2020. Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Econometrics & Business Statistics and School of Physics & Astronomy, Monash University (2017–2020), and earned her doctorate in particle physics at the University of Grenoble-Alpes, France (2014–2017). Her academic journey began with physics studies at the University of Vienna (2007–2014).

Research Interests: She specializes in statistics, with a focus on data visualization, machine learning, computational statistics, and environmental statistics. Her work bridges high-dimensional data analysis with applications in particle physics and environmental studies, particularly in climate change and hydrology.

Scientific Contributions: Ursula has actively contributed to projects involving

• climate change impacts on hydrological systems
• interactive visualization tools (lionfish, cubble, tourr)
• statistical modeling for environmental and particle physics data

Her recent publications emphasize tour algorithms, projection pursuit, and spatiotemporal indexing, reflecting a blend of data science and domain-specific applications.

Awards & Recognition: She has been a

• keynote speaker at DAGStat 2025
• active participant in international conferences (EGU, useR!, Joint Statistical Meetings)