Jennifer Ann Brown is a New Zealand

statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...

, currently a professor at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

and the former president of the New Zealand Statistical Association. Brown is interested in problems of

environmental statistics Environment statistics is the application of statistical methods to environmental science. It covers procedures for dealing with questions concerning the natural environment in its undisturbed state, the interaction of humanity with the environment ...

such as monitoring

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

, and in the statistical problems such as

experimental design The design of experiments (DOE, DOX, or experimental design) is the design of any task that aims to describe and explain the variation of information under conditions that are hypothesized to reflect the variation. The term is generally associ ...

and

change detection In statistical analysis, change detection or change point detection tries to identify times when the probability distribution of a stochastic process or time series changes. In general the problem concerns both detecting whether or not a change ...

needed to accomplish those tasks. She is a Professor of Statistics at the

, head of the School of Mathematics and Statistics at Canterbury, and associate director of the Biomathematics Research Centre. After studying

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

as an undergraduate at the University of Canterbury, Brown worked in forestry at the

New Zealand Forest Research Institute Scion, officially registered as New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute with its primary areas of research, science and technology development being in the areas of forestry, wood products, wood- ...

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

, and then as an ecological and marine manager for the

New Zealand Department of Conservation The Department of Conservation (DOC; Māori: ''Te Papa Atawhai'') is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the conservation of New Zealand's natural and historical heritage. An advisory body, the New Zealand Conservation Au ...

. She writes of this time that "It was only when I was a forester that I realised how important statistics was and started studying it extramurally." After six years of studying statistics part-time at

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

while continuing to work in these positions, and earning a postgraduate diploma at Massey, she returned to school full-time for a Ph.D. program in statistics at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

. Her dissertation, completed in 1996 and supervised by Bryan Manly, was ''The Efficiency of Adaptive Cluster Sampling''. Brown was the president of the New Zealand Statistical Association for 2008–2011. She was awarded a lifetime membership in the association in 2014. She is also an elected member of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Jennifer Ann Year of birth missing (living people) Living people New Zealand statisticians Women statisticians University of Canterbury alumni University of Otago alumni Academic staff of the University of Canterbury Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute