Kerrie Mengersen (born 1962) is an Australian

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 ...

. Since 2016, she has been Distinguished Professor of Statistics at

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

in the Science and Engineering Faculty. She earned BA (Hons I) and PhD degrees in Mathematics, majoring in Statistics and Computing, from the University of New England (Armidale, New South Wales, Australia) in 1985 and 1989, respectively. She is the Director of the Bayesian Research and Applications Group (BRAG). This group is part of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS) of Big Data, Big Models, New Insights. She has co-authored three books and edited two, and has written 27 book chapters and approximately 250 journal articles. Her research cuts across a broad spectrum of statistical practice. She is primarily known for her work in Bayesian statistics and

meta-analysis A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies. Meta-analyses can be performed when there are multiple scientific studies addressing the same question, with each individual study reporting me ...

, and has worked in applications of statistics in

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

and

environmental science Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics, biology, and geography (including ecology, chemistry, plant science, zoology, mineralogy, oceanography, limnology, soil science, geology and physical geograp ...

. In 2016, she was the first woman to be awarded the Statistical Society of Australia's Pitman Medal, which recognises outstanding achievement in the statistics discipline. She talks about new challenges for statisticians in a YouTube video. She has contributed to Australian

biosecurity Biosecurity refers to measures aimed at preventing the introduction and/or spread of harmful organisms (e.g. viruses, bacteria, etc.) to animals and plants in order to minimize the risk of transmission of infectious disease. In agriculture, thes ...

efforts. In October 2015 her research in building virtual

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s was highlighted on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. Mengersen was the National President of the Statistical Society of Australia (SSAI) in 2013, and was the International President of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis (ISBA) in 2016. As of 2022 she is a member of the Academy Council of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Publications

Honours and awards

* 2014 Elected Fellow of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis * Elected Fellow of the

Institute of Mathematical Statistics The Institute of Mathematical Statistics is an international professional and scholarly society devoted to the development, dissemination, and application of statistics and probability. The Institute currently has about 4,000 members in all parts o ...

* Elected Fellow of the Society for Modelling and Simulation * 2015 Biennial Medalist of the Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand (MSSANZ) * 2015

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

Laureate Fellowship * 2016

Statistical Society of Australia The Statistical Society of Australia (SSA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in Australia. It was founded in 1962 to support and unify the work of Australian state statistical societies that were a ...

Pitman Medal * 2018 Elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) * 2018 Elected Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA)

References

External links

*
Kerrie Mengersen Deputy director Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical FrontiersQUT: Distinguished Professor Kerrie MengersenGoogle Scholar: Kerrie Mengersen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mengersen, Kerrie Australian statisticians Academic staff of Queensland University of Technology Women statisticians Fellows of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics 1962 births University of New England (Australia) alumni 20th-century British women scientists Living people Fellows of the Royal Statistical Society Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science 20th-century Australian women scientists 21st-century Australian women scientists Biostatisticians