of Dr. Xu-Feng Niu
Environmental data analysis is a field that today is of critical importance in providing the basis of scientific understanding for setting wise public policy on environmental management. Data collected from different spatial locations over a certain period, either by ground-based stations or by satellite, are likely to be correlated spatially and temporally. In recent years, I have worked on the development of space-time models for environmental data, including estimation procedures, model selection and prediction. The models have been applied to stratospheric and tropospheric ozone data for trend assessment. I have also studied extreme value theory for nonstationary environmental time series, applied the results to estimate probabilities of daily maximum ozone concentrations exceeding some specific levels.
I have involved in several interdisciplinary research projects. For example, I collaborate with biologists on studying the role of freshwater input in determining the productivity of river-dominated estuaries, and with meteorologists on studying the predictability of weather phenomena and hurricane activity. Most recently, I have been working with Dan McGee on medical data analysis. Our research involves examining the heterogeneity of results from multiple epidemiological studies.