Dr. Kathryn Roeder

Biography

Kathryn Roeder’s research focuses on developing statistical methods for the analysis of genetic genomic data to find associations and patterns of genetic variation in complex diseases. To solve biologically relevant problems, her team utilizes modern statistical methods including high dimensional statistics, statistical machine learning, nonparametric methods, and networks. The group has developed tools for identifying autism risk genes and de novo mutations in collaboration with the Autism Sequencing Consortium, successfully identifying more than a hundred autism risk genes. Recently, the focus has shifted to developing tools for the analysis of single-cell and multi-omic proteomic data. Roeder currently holds the title of UPMC Professor of Statistics in Life Sciences. She earned her Ph.D. in Statistics from Pennsylvania State University and was a faculty member at Yale University for six years before joining Carnegie Mellon University in 1994. In 1997, she received the COPSS Presidents’ Award for outstanding statisticians under the age of 40, and the Snedecor Award for outstanding work in statistical applications. In 2020, she was awarded the COPSS Distinguished Achievement Award Lectureship and has been elected a fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2019, she was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences.

Research Interests