Department of Statistics

The American people do not want woke Marxist lunacy in the AI models, proclaimed President Donald Trump in July just before signing a series of executive orders, including one apparently aimed at stopping artificial intelligence (AI) models from brainwashing users with left-wing propaganda. Jillian Fisher, doctoral student of statistics and of computer science and engineering at the UW, is quoted.

Today the UW announced the results of a study looking at the potential influence artificial intelligence can have on our political decision making.Jillian Fisher, doctoral student of statistics and of computer science and engineering at the UW, is interviewed.

If youve faced the frustrating challenge of trying to pull a friend or family member with opposing political views into your camp, maybe let a chatbot make your case. New research from the UW found that politically biased chatbots could nudge Democrats and Republicans toward opposing viewpoints. Jillian Fisher, doctoral student of statistics and of computer science and engineering at the UW, is quoted.

The College of Arts & Sciences celebrates undergraduate and graduate students from across all four divisions, who are recognized for making the most of their time at the UW. 

Admitted students and families can engage with the College of Arts and Sciences through several department and program specific events over the next few weeks.

Statistics professor Zaid Harchaoui, working at the intersection of statistics and computing, explores what AI models do well, where they fall short, and why.

The University of Washingtonâs graduate and professional degree programs were widely recognized as among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Reportâs 2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings released late Monday.

Kick off the Autumn quarter and celebrate a return to campus with these can’t-miss recommendations from the College of Arts & Sciences.

The formation of the Pacific Alliance for Low Income Inclusion in Statistics and Data Science (PALiISaDS) is a new partnership supported by a $5,000,000 investment from the National Science Foundation’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics  (SSTEM) Program.  The partnership is led by the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Washington, and also includes the University of California, Irvine, California State University Monterey Bay, California State University East Bay, California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo, and San Diego State University. 

A new study projects the number of days with "dangerous" and "extremely dangerous" mixtures of heat and humidity by the end of this century. Even if global warming is limited to 2 degrees Celsius, results show that deadly heat waves will become much more common in the mid-latitudes, and many tropical regions will experience "dangerous" heat for about half the year.

Statistics professor Jon Wakefield led a team estimating excess deaths due to COVID. The findings caused a stir.

Researchers with the World Health Organization explain mistakes in high-profile mortality estimates for Germany and Sweden. The UW's Jon Wakefield, professor of statistics and of biostatistics, and Victoria Knutson, a doctoral student in biostatistics, are quoted.

Danni Lin (2011, 2013) finds her statistics and computational finance & risk management degrees helpful as a wine entrepreneur in the US and China. 

Through the Math Alliance, UW departments and programs provide mentoring and networking to encourage diversity in STEM fields.

"When Jeanne Calment of France died in 1997 at the age of 122 years and 164 days, she set a record for oldest human. That record still stands. As statisticians who study demography, we expect that record will be broken by 2100," write the UW's Michael Pearce, a doctoral student in statistics, and Adrian Raftery, professor of statistics and of sociology.