Professor Bret Larget takes the helm as chair of the Department of Statistics

By Thomas Jilk The Department of Statistics is excited to announce that Professor Bret Larget has been named department chair after Professor Yazhen Wang concluded his three-year term this summer. Professor Larget will lead the department as it continues to see transformative growth, particularly in the Data Science major he helped establish, and as it prepares to move into Morgridge Hall, the new School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences (CDIS) building set to open next year. Having served on the department’s faculty for more than two decades, Larget said assuming this leadership role felt like “a natural extension” of his career. “It’s an exciting time in the Statistics Department,” he said. “We’ve seen incredible transformation. Nearly half of our department’s faculty have been here five years or less, and I’m so excited about the talents of the people we’ve hired and the energy they bring. It’s exciting to be part of something that’s growing.”

Growth and change

After the department’s Data Science undergraduate major launched in 2020, it quickly became the single fastest-growing major on campus, attracting students with its interdisciplinary curriculum and promising post-graduation job opportunities. Today, there are approximately 1,700 Data Science majors. Larget played a lead role in creating the program, and he said “it’s been satisfying to see what’s happened with the Data Science major.” Now, as he takes the helm as chair, Larget will step back from the committee governing the major, which will now be led by Michael Ferris, the Jacques-Louis Lions Professor of Computer Sciences at UW–Madison. “I think the major is in great hands and has a good transition plan,” Larget said. He also credited the Statistics Department’s advisors for making it possible for the program to continue its growth. “We’ve got a very strong set of advisors,” he said. “They’re able to manage the advising load for both the major and the certificate program. We couldn’t do it without them.” He also stressed the continued importance of hiring talented faculty as the department continues its rapid growth. “We keep hiring these fantastic assistant professors who have incredible research ideas, and they also have great ideas about education. They have seen what has worked in other places, so we can lean on their experience, knowledge and energy to help us to make improvements to what we’re doing here.”

Plans and priorities

During his term as chair, Larget hopes to revamp the PhD program’s curriculum and foster a culture of community within the department. He hopes to implement changes to the PhD program that allow students to begin doing research earlier and across more disciplines. Under the new plan, he said, “Most [PhD] students will be able to satisfy all their required courses during the first year, and then the second year can be devoted to almost entirely satisfying electives, so that students can use statistics across different fields, whether they want to learn more about biology or about social sciences or astronomy.” Additionally, with such a fast-growing department, Larget wants to encourage community-building among faculty, staff and students. He said he hopes to foster a culture in which people “enjoy spending time, professionally and personally, with their colleagues and peers.”  He added, “I want our department to be attractive to students from very diverse backgrounds coming here and feeling comfortable.”

Moving to Morgridge Hall

As the department gets ready to relocate to the sleek, sustainable Morgridge Hall, Larget is excited about the possibilities the new building will bring. “Maybe the most exciting opportunity is not specific to the physical space as much as the fact that we will be sharing the space with our CDIS partners and with faculty from Biostatistics and Medical Informatics,” he said. “By being in this space that was designed to foster collaboration and interactivity, it will help catalyze new interactions and new conversations.” In the new building, he explained, “There will be natural light permeating through the whole space, and these fantastic terraces with viewpoints to see the lakes and campus.”

“[Morgridge Hall] will be a hub of excitement and activity. And it will be a center for data science, statistics, and computational activities on campus.” Bret Larget

With the three CDIS departments—Computer Sciences (CS), Statistics, and the Information School (iSchool)—coming together under one roof, Larget is also excited for each department to contribute its unique strengths to the shared enterprise. “CS has more experience than we do interacting with corporate partners. We can learn from them and get involved in some of their activities,” he said. “And the iSchool has had incredible success at creating a culture that is inclusive and welcoming. So that’s an area where we can learn from their best practices. I’m excited about how the departments can share their strengths with the others to create new things that will be better for all.”

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Take a virtual tour of Morgridge Hall.  Explore a full list of Statistics Department faculty.