Biostatistics doctoral student Charles Wolock has been awarded a 2020 Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF). NSF Fellows receive three years of funding support plus a cost of education allowance, for a total award of $114,000. Fellows also have access to international research and professional development opportunities.
Wolock’s research interests include decision theory, missing data methodology, and statistical genetics. He is currently a research assistant for a forensic genetics project that collaborates with wildlife biologists to combat elephant poaching. The project develops tools to evaluate genetic data as evidence of familial relationships and is supervised by Professor of Biostatistics Bruce Weir.
In addition, Wolock works with Lurdes Inoue, professor of biostatistics and department chair, to explore connections between Bayesian and frequentist approaches to sequential decision making. The aim is to design methods that optimally individualize patient treatment plans based on evolving health status over time.
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program is the country’s oldest fellowship program that directly supports graduate students in various STEM fields. The program’s objective is to help NSF Fellows become knowledge experts who can contribute significantly to research, teaching, and innovations in various STEM fields.
