George Mason University Department of Statistics welcomes new faculty Brenda Betancourt and Ray Bai to the College of Engineering and Computing

Betancourt, an expert in statistical and computational methods for data integration and network analysis, joins George Mason as an associate professor in the Department of Statistics. She comes to CEC from NORC at the University of Chicago, where she was a senior statistician. NORC is a research organization that “partners with government, corporate, and nonprofit clients around the world to inform the critical decisions facing society,” according to their website.

Betancourt’s research focuses on creating new ways to combine and analyze large, complex datasets. She develops statistical tools for linking records, estimating local trends, and studying networks. The goal is to turn complex data into trustworthy information for evidence-based decisions in government, health, and social research applications. She earned her PhD in statistics and applied mathematics from the University of California, Santa Cruz; her MS in mathematics from the University of Puerto Rico; and her BS in statistics from the National University of Colombia.

Bai is an expert in large-scale, high-dimensional data and deep learning. He joins George Mason as an assistant professor in statistics from the University of South Carolina, where he was also an assistant professor. Prior to working in academia, however, he worked as an engineer and financial software analyst at General Dynamics and State Street Bank & Trust.

He is interested in applying probabilistic statistics to machine learning, and his research lies at the intersection of modern statistical inference and artificial intelligence. He looks forward to conducting impactful research that is statistically sound and useful to practitioners, developing meaningful collaborations at CEC, and mentoring both graduate and undergraduate students to be successful in their future careers. Bai earned his PhD in statistics from the University of Florida, his MS in applied mathematics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and his BA in economics and government from Cornell University.