Dr. Sallie Ann Keller is a Distinguished Professor of Biocomplexity in the Biocomplexity Institute, Quantitative Foundation Distinguished Professor of Data Science, and Professor of Public Health Sciences in the School of Medicine at University of Virginia. A nationally recognized research scientist, her expertise spans social and decision informatics, the statistical foundations of data science, as well as data access and confidentiality. She is a leading voice in advancing the science of all data for societal benefit.
Her prior positions include chief scientist and associate director of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Research and Methodology Directorate, where she led enterprise-wide collaborations to develop innovative scientific solutions that advance economic and social measurement; professor of statistics and director of the Social and Decision Analytics Laboratory within the Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech; academic vice president and provost at University of Waterloo; director of the Institute for Defense Analyses Science and Technology Policy Institute; the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering at Rice University; head of the Statistical Sciences group at Los Alamos National Laboratory; professor of statistics at Kansas State University; and Statistics Program director at the National Science Foundation.
Keller is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. She serves on the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Committee for the Center for Health, People, and Places and has served as a member of the Board on Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications and the Committee on National Statistics, and as chair of the Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an elected member of the International Statistics Institute, and a fellow and past president of the American Statistical Association. Keller earned her B.S. and M.S. in mathematics from the University of South Florida and her Ph.D. in statistics from Iowa State University.
- Research Interests
The science of all data, social and decision informatics, statistical underpinnings of data science, and data access and confidentiality.
- Awards and Honors
Links Lecture Award, American Statistical Association, 2024
Samuel S. Wilks Memorial Award, 2021
Elected Member of the National Academy of Engineering, 2020
Elected Member of Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, 2020
Elected Member of International Statistical Institute, 2012
Jerome Sacks Award for Outstanding Cross-Disciplinary Research, National Institute of Statistical Sciences, 2010
John V. Atanasoff Research and Discovery Award, Iowa State University, 2009
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2005
National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2002
Founder’s Award American Statistical Association, 2002
Fellow of the American Statistical Association, 1997
Director’s Award for Outstanding Program Management, National Science Foundation, 1996- Education
Ph.D. in Statistics, Iowa State University of Science and Technology
M.S. in Mathematics, University of South Florida
B.S. in Mathematics, University of South Florida