José-Miguel Yamal ’07, a biostatistician and data scientist, will deliver the 2024 Hispanic/Latino Heritage Statistics Colloquium lecture on Nov. 11, sponsored by the Department of Statistics (STAT) at Rice.
Yamal is a professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. His lecture is titled “Diverse Data: A Hispanic Biostatistician’s Perspective in Academia.”
“I will reflect on how Hispanic cultural identity has affected my academic and personal journey, highlighting the challenges and opportunities I’ve encountered. The talk will also touch on methodological areas in clinical trials and biostatistics,” said Yamal, a Chilean-American who serves as director of the Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials at the UT Houston School of Public Health.
Yamal earned his Ph.D. in statistics from Rice in 2007, followed by postdoctoral work at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. His doctoral adviser at Rice was Dennis Cox, emeritus professor of STAT, who will introduce Yamal.
Frederi Viens, Rice professor of STAT and chair of the STAT Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, will moderate a lunch meeting at noon on Monday with Yamal and some 30 STAT students. “We’ll discuss the Hispanic experience for scientists and the students will hear career advice from a successful statistician,” Viens said.
Yamal will speak at 4 p.m. on Nov. 11 in 251 Maxfield Hall.