spatio-temporal statistics

Professor Ying Sun elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association

3 min read ·
Ying Sun joins the elite ranks of ASA Fellows in 2025 for her contributions to spatial statistics, mentoring and global outreach.
KAUST-CEMSE-Public-colloquium-Ying-Sun-Spatio-Temporal-Statistics-In-Geo-Environmental-Data-Science

Spatio-Temporal Statistics in Geo-Environmental Data Science

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B9, L2, R2322

In this talk, I will discuss the contributions and ongoing research of my Environmental Statistics Research Group in the area of spatio-temporal statistics, with a particular focus on geo-environmental data science. Our work is primarily centered around the development and application of sophisticated statistical models that improve the understanding and management of environmental data characterized by their spatial and temporal variability. My group has made significant advances in developing better spatio-temporal models that effectively capture the complexities inherent in environmental datasets, as well as developing innovative software tools such as ExaGeoStat, ParallelVecchiaGP, and DeepKriging, which support the analysis of large-scale geostatistical datasets. During this presentation, I will also showcase our research contributions motivated by environmental applications, including multivariate time series visualization and clustering, panel data analysis for functional and spatial data, and statistical process monitoring.

Functional data depth and its application in the visualization of spatio-temporal covariance structures

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KAUST

Functional data analysis is a very active research area due to the overwhelming existence of functional data. In the first part of this talk, I will introduce how functional data depth is used to carry out exploratory data analysis and explain recently-developed depth techniques. In the second part, I will discuss spatio-temporal statistical modeling. It is challenging to build realistic space-time models and assess the validity of the model, especially when datasets are large. I will present a set of visualization tools we developed using functional data analysis techniques for visualizing covariance structures of univariate and multivariate spatio-temporal processes. I will illustrate the performance of the proposed methods in the exploratory data analysis of spatio-temporal data.

Bayesian Modeling of Sub-Asymptotic Spatial Extremes

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B5 L5 R5220

In this thesis, we develop new flexible sub-asymptotic extreme value models for modeling spatial and spatio-temporal extremes that are combined with carefully designed gradient-based Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling schemes and that can be exploited to address important scientific questions related to risk assessment in a wide range of environmental applications. The methodological developments are centered around two distinct themes, namely (i) sub-asymptotic Bayesian models for extremes; and (ii) flexible marked point process models with sub-asymptotic marks. In the first part, we develop several types of new flexible models for light-tailed and heavy-tailed data, which extend a hierarchical representation of the classical generalized Pareto (GP) limit for threshold exceedances. Spatial dependence is modeled through latent processes. We study the theoretical properties of our new methodology and demonstrate it by simulation and applications to precipitation extremes in both Germany and Spain.

CEMSE Welcomes new Professor: Dr. Ying Sun

1 min read ·
Ying Sun is an Assistant Professor of Statistics in the Division of Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE). She joined KAUST after one-year service as an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics at the Ohio State University.

The Lambert Award for Young Statisticians Goes To Raphael Huser

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Today Raphael Huser, Assistant Professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), received the Lambert Award for Young Statisticians for his contribution in modeling the distribution of extreme weather events.

2015 Workshop on Computational Space-Time Statistics

1 min read ·
Organizers : Prof. Marc G. Genton , Chair of Spatio-Temporal Statistics and Data Science Group Prof. Raphael Huser, Chair of Extreme Statistics Group​ Prof. Ying Sun​, Chair of Environmental Statistics Group Confirmed speakers: Prof. Sudipto Banerjee, University of California Los Angeles, USA Prof. Souhaib Ben Taieb, Monash University, Australia Prof. Stefano Castruccio, Newcastle University, UK Prof. Miguel de Carvalho, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile,​ Chile Prof. Clément Dombry, University of Franche-Comté , France Prof. Xuming He, University of Michigan, USA Prof. Hsin-Cheng Huang

Professor Sun receives the Environment Early Investigator Award 2017 for her outstanding contribution in environmental statistics

1 min read ·
Ying Sun, Professor of Statistics in the Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences & Engineering Division (CEMSE) of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, has been awarded the 2017 Early Investigator Award by the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and the Environment (ENVR).

New paper accepted in JABES

1 min read ·
New accepted paper: Castro-Camilo, D., Huser, R., and Rue, H. (2019+), A spliced Gamma-generalized Pareto model for short-term extreme wind speed probabilistic forecasting, Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, to appear [ PDF preprint]

KAUST Assistant Professor Raphaël Huser receives American Statistical Association award

1 min read ·
KAUST Assistant Professor Raphaël Huser recently received the American Statistical Association's (ASA) 2019 Section on Statistics and the Environment (ENVR) Early Investigator Award for his outstanding contributions to environmental statistics. He accepted the award at the 2019 Joint Statistical Meetings held in Denver, Colorado, U.S., from July 27 to August 1.

Using Statistical Models to Solve Environmental Problems

1 min read ·
Joining the faculty of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) six years ago gave statistics Professor Ying Sun a unique career opportunity: the chance to build and lead her own research group solving real-world problems.

Meet KAUST Prospective Student: Amin Wu

1 min read ·
Amin Wu is a 24-year-old graduate who will join KAUST from the Communication University of China. Wu will join the University in the fall of 2020 as an M.S./Ph.D. candidate in the KAUST Environmental Statistics Research Group under the supervision of Professor Ying Sun. Wu wants to be a teacher or researcher and use her expertise and knowledge to make the world a better place.

Meet KAUST prospective student: Xiaotian Jin

1 min read ·
Xiaotian Jin is a graduate of Wenzhou-Kean University in China (a campus of Kean University in the USA). Xiaotian will join KAUST this fall as a M.S./Ph.D. candidate in the KAUST Stochastic Processes and Applied Statistics research group under the supervision of Professor David Bolin.

Meet KAUST new student: Qilong Pan

1 min read ·
Qilong Pan is a statistics graduate who joined KAUST in June 2021 from the Wuhan University of Technology, China. Pan is a M.S./Ph.D. student and member of the Environmental Statistics research group under the supervision of Professor Ying Sun.

Zipei Geng

Ph.D. Student, Statistics

Zhuo Qu

Ph.D. Student, Statistics
Zhuo Qu is a PhD candidate in statistics, under Prof. Marc Genton. Zhuo likes to use statistics methods to interpret the data in the applications and find the new possibility of exploring the new statistics model. Being eager to learn and experience the uncertainty in the research and life, she also like chatting, swimming and piano. Her goal is to be a spare-time pianist among professional statisticians. Education and Early Career King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, January 2019 - December 2022, PhD in Statistics King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Ying Sun

Associate Professor, Statistics
KAUST Professor Ying Sun leads a research group focusing on environmental statistics. She is at the forefront of developing advanced models and methodologies in the fields of spatio-temporal statistics, functional data analysis and process monitoring.

Xiaotian Jin

Ph.D. Student, Statistics
Xiaotian Jin is a Ph.D. candidate in the KAUST Stochastic Processes and Applied Statistics research group under the supervision of Professor David Bolin. Before joining KAUST, Xiaotian obtained a bachelor's degree in computer science from Wenzhou-Kean University, China. Research Interests Xiaotian's research interests include statistical modeling and Spatio-temporal statistics.

Wanfang Chen

Ph.D., Statistics
Wanfang Chen obtained a Ph.D. degree in Statistics from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Professor Marc Genton at the "spatio-temporal statistics and data science" research group. Education and Early Career Wanfang Chen obtained her Bachelor Degree of Science in Mathematics at Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) in China in 2013. She obtained her Master Degree of Science in Econometrics at Xiamen University in China in 2016. She joined the Ph.D. program in Statistics at KAUST in 2016. Research Interest Spatio-temporal statistics, wind

Soumya Das

Ph.D. Student, Statistics
Soumya Das is a Ph.D. candidate in Statistics at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Professor Marc Genton. Education and Early Career M.sc. (2015-17) from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India B.Sc. (2012-15) from Ramakrishna Mission Residential College (Autonomous), Narendrapur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India Research Interests Cyclostationary processes, Non-parametric analysis, Non-stationary models, Skewed distributions, Spatio-temporal statistics, Threshold models. Awards and Distinctions The General Proficiency Medal for

Rishikesh Yadav

Ph.D. Student, Statistics
Rishikesh Yadav was a Ph.D. student in Statistics at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Prof. Raphaël Huser. Rishikesh successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled " Bayesian Modeling of Sub-Asymptotic Spatial Extremes" on April 5th, 2022; see his PhD thesis here. His PhD committee was composed of Professors Raphaël Huser (chair), Philippe Naveau (external examiner from CNRS, France), Marc Genton, and Ajay Jasra. For his next career steps, Rishikesh has accepted a postdoctoral position at HEC Montréal, Canada, under the joint supervision

Raphaël Huser

Associate Professor, Statistics
Professor Huser develops novel statistical methodology and machine learning solutions to model and predict extreme events in various applications ranging from climate and earth sciences to finance and neuroscience.

Qilong Pan

Ph.D. Student, Statistics
Qilong Pan's research focuses on developing scalable statistical methods, with a particular emphasis on Gaussian Processes and GPU acceleration.

Peng Zhong

Ph.D. Student, Statistics
Peng Zhong was a Ph.D. student in Statistics at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Prof. Raphaël Huser. Peng successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled " Modeling and Simulation of Spatial Extremes Based on Max-Infinitely Divisible and Related Processes" on April 4th, 2022; see his PhD thesis here. His PhD committee was composed of Professors Raphaël Huser (chair), Daniel Cooley (external examiner from Colorado State University, US), Marc Genton, and Ajay Jasra. For his next career steps, Peng has accepted a postdoctoral fellowship

Matthew Sainsbury-Dale

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Statistics
Matthew obtained his PhD in 2024 from the University of Wollongong (UOW), Australia, with a thesis titled "Efficient Inference for Spatial and Spatio-Temporal Statistical Models Using Basis-Function and Deep-Learning Methods", which received the Examiners Commendation for Outstanding Thesis. He is now a postdoctoral researcher at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), working in the XSTAT group under Prof. Raphaël Huser's supervision. Education and Early Career Matthew obtained his PhD in 2024 from the University of Wollongong (UOW), Australia. He joined KAUST as a

Mary Lai O. Salvana

Ph.D. Student, Statistics
Mary Salvaña is a PhD student in the Spatio-Temporal Statistics and Data Science group under the supervision of Prof. Marc Genton at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Education and Early Career MS Applied Mathematics graduate from the Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines) Research Interest Spatio-Temporal Statistics, Wind Energy Modelling, Renewable Energy Modelling.

Jose Hermenegildo Ramirez Gonzalez

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Statistics

Jonatan A. González

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Statistics
Jonatan's research interests lie between spatial statistics and coding, emphasising point processes, epidemiology, infectious disease modelling and, generally, application-focused methods. He has a bachelor's degree and a master's background in mathematics. He completed his PhD in spatial and spatio-temporal point processes at the University Jaume I. Jonatan's research projects include techniques for dealing with point patterns: replicated observations, spatio-temporal analysis, graphical methods, hypothesis testing, experimental design and local characteristics. In addition to the core

Jian Cao

Ph.D., Statistics
Jian Cao obtained his Ph.D. degree in Statistics from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Professor Marc Genton at the "spatio-temporal statistics and data science" research group. His research focused on Monte Carlo simulation, hierarchical matrices, tile-low-rank matrices, and solving high dimensional multivariate normal or Student-t probabilities. Education and Early Career Ph.D. degree from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Master from Shanghai Jiaotong University Bachelor from University of Science and Technology of China

Israel Martínez-Hernández

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Statistics
Israel Martínez-Hernández is a postdoctoral fellow at the Spatio-Temporal Statistics & Data Science Group at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Education and Early Career Israel Martínez-Hernández received his Ph.D. degree in Probability and Statistics from the Center for Research in Mathematics (CIMAT), Mexico, in December 2017. He joined KAUST as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in February 2018. Research Interest Functional Data Analysis, Functional Time Series, Long Memory Process, NonLinear Cointegration, Spatial Functional Data Analysis, Time Series Analysis

Fouzi Harrou

Research Scientist, Statistics
Dr. Harrou received an M.Sc. degree in telecommunications and networking from the University of Paris VI and the Ph.D. degree in systems optimization and security from the University Technology of Troyes (UTT), France. He was an Assistant Professor at UTT for one year and was an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Automotive and Transport Engineering, Nevers, France, for one year. He was also a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the Systems Modelling and Dependability Laboratory, UTT, for one year. He is currently a Research Scientist with the Division of Computer, Electrical, and

Elias Teixeira Krainski

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Statistics
Elias T Krainski is a Post-Doctoral fellow In Statistics at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Professor Håvard Rue in his research group. Education and Early Career Postdoctoral fellow, Dalhousie University, 2019-2020. Adjunct professor, Universidade Federal do Paraná, 2018-2019. PhD, Norwegian University of Science and Tecnology, 2018. Research interests Efficient Bayesian methods for practical implementation, Spatio and spatio-temporal statistics, INLA.

Daniela Cisneros

Ph.D. Student, Statistics
Daniela Cisneros was a Ph.D. student in Statistics at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Prof. Raphaël Huser. Daniela successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled " Extreme-Value Models and Graphical Methods for Spatial Wildfire Risk Assessment" on September 11th, 2023; see her PhD thesis here. Her PhD committee was composed of Professors Raphaël Huser (chair), Jorge Mateu (external examiner from Universitat Jaume I, Castillón, Spain), Hernando Ombao, and Matteo Parsani. For her next career steps, Daniela will return to Mexico where

David Bolin

Associate Professor, Statistics
David Bolin is an expert on stochastic processes, random fields and spatial statistics. His main research focus is on stochastic partial differential equations and their applications in statistics.

Amanda Lenzi

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Statistics
Amanda Lenzi is currently working as a Postdoctoral fellow under Mihai Anitescu, in Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago USA Amanda Lenzi was a Post-Doctoral fellow in Statistics at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Professor Marc G. Genton in his research group. Education and Early Carreer Amanda Lenzi completed her Ph.D. at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in 2017. She also holds a B.S. and an M.S. degree in Statistics from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. She joined KAUST in September 2017. Research Interest Her

Alibi Jangeldin

M.S. Student, Statistics
Alibi Jangeldin was an MSc in Statistical Data Science candidate in Spatio-Temporal Statistics Group in King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), studying under the supervision of Professor Marc Genton. Education and Early Career Alibi obtained his bachelor degree in Applied Mathematics from Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan in 2018. He also worked as a data scientist at Ernst & Young and General Prosecutor's Office of Kazakhstan. M.S. In Statistics from KAUST, Dec. 2019. Research Interest His research interest include data science, statistics and machine learning. Awards