Somnath Datta

University of Louisville bioinformatics and biostatistics professor Somnath Datta has been named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. The annual award is limited to no more than one-third of 1 percent of the ASA’s total membership.

The designation recognizes full members of established reputation who have made outstanding contributions in some aspect of statistical work.

Datta joined the faculty of the School of Public Health and Information Sciences (SPHIS) in 2005. His primary expertise is in the application of advanced statistical techniques to biological data, including genetic, epidemiologic and scenario modeling for biological processes such as adaptation.

“In today’s environment, scientific breakthroughs are often dependent on the ability to find patterns or anomalies in very large amounts of data,” said Richard Clover, dean of SPHIS. “Datta is one of the pioneers in the application of statistical methods and information technology to complex biological problems and this recognition is well-deserved.”