Spatial and Environmental Statistics for Epidemiologic Research (SPENSER)

Coordinator: Lance Ballester. 

To join our mailing list, please email Lance!

Current schedule (Spring 2017) can be found here. 


The SPENSER working group consists of faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and students who are interested in developing and applying statistical methods for analyzing environmental and public health data.  Our goals are to
  • promote spatial and environmental biostatistics at RSPH;
  • establish a forum to exchange research ideas and opportunities;
  • provide a supportive environment for trainees.   
The working group currently meets weekly with the following potential activities.
  • Discuss work in progress.
  • Meet with potential collaborators.
  • Host spatial and environmental statistics journal club.
  • Tutorials on software/packages.
  • Provide feedback to student practice presentation.
Some of the members' research interests include

Methodology: Bayesian methods, causal inference, complex/large data set, graphical model, disease mapping, dynamic system, measurement error, missing data, limit of detection problem, longitudinal analysis, point process, varying coefficient model, spatial hierarchical model, software development, statistical computing, uncertainty quantification. 

Applications: air pollution, bioinformatics, climate change, community intervention, analysis of deterministic model output, disease ecology, environmental justice, exposure assessment, forecast and control, GIS, infectious disease, remote sensing, optimization, metabolomics, social epidemiology.