Huixia (Judy) Wang joined as the new chair of the Department of Statistics and William Marsh Rice Trustee Professor in Data Science at the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing at Rice University on July 1, 2025.
“I’m excited to welcome Judy to our school and look forward to partnering with her in further advancing the statistics department," said Luay Nakhleh, William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering and Computing. "I also want to sincerely thank our outgoing chair, Rudy Guerra, for his exceptional service in leading this department for the past six years. His commitment to fostering one-of-a-kind teaching and research programs has attracted the best talent to the department and elevated it to one of the best in the nation for statistics.”
In this role, Guerra, a professor of statistics, has had many accomplishments—including hiring 11 research and teaching faculty, growing the Data to Science (D2K) program, relocating the department to the newly renovated Maxfield Hall, launching new international student exchange programs and undergraduate courses, and increasing support for and engagement with undergraduate students.
Wang completed her Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006 and joined North Carolina State University as an assistant professor. She served in that role until 2012 when she moved to The George Washington University to serve as a professor in the Statistics department. She served as its department chair for three years. From 2018 to 2022, she also served as a program director in the Division of Mathematical Sciences at the National Science Foundation where she co-managed several large multi-disciplinary and cross-agency programs. She also managed many national initiatives in mathematics, data science, and artificial intelligence, and spearheaded several workforce development programs in these areas.
Her research focuses on building mathematical and statistical models to solve complex biomedical and environmental problems. One of her current projects involves developing statistical methods and scalable computing methods to analyze complex datasets with the goal of identifying socio-economic factors contributing to chronic health conditions.
She is also laying the mathematical groundwork for building human digital twins—dynamic, data-driven, virtual models that mirror an individual’s brain physiology and pathology. These digital twins are designed to uncover root causes and support personalized treatments for autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental disorders. The platform will allow physicians and parents to track how children with autism respond to different stimuli and interventions in real time.
Additionally, she is collaborating with environmental researchers and engineers to develop statistical models that predict the vulnerability of specific geographical areas to flooding and assess the impact of hurricanes on water quality.
Wang has received numerous awards including the Mitchell Distinguished Lecturer from the University of Glasgow, the Medallion Lecturer from the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, National Science Foundation CAREER award and the Tweedie New Researcher Award from Institute of Mathematical Statistics. She is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute, a fellow of the American Statistical Association, and a fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. She has also served in various editorial and leadership positions for professional statistical journals and societies.
Wang’s vision as a chair is to build upon the research prowess of the department’s faculty to further encourage multi-disciplinary research collaborations and educational partnerships across the department, with other departments at Rice, and with other institutions and organizations in the Houston area. She also plans to foster a supportive and empowering environment for faculty, students, and staff and is interested in building stronger connections with alumni.
“I am grateful for this opportunity to lead this strong department with brilliant researchers, students and alumni, and excellent staff to greater heights,” Wang said. “My overall vision is to position the department as an international leader in statistics.”