Dr. Susan Holmes

Biography

Susan Holmes is a Professor Emerita of Statistics at Stanford University. She trained at the French School of Data Analysis in Montpellier and worked on non-parametric multivariate statistics applied to biology starting in 1985. Her academic career includes teaching positions at MIT and Harvard before becoming an Associate Professor of Biometry at Cornell University, then moving to Stanford in 1998. She created the Thinking Matters class titled 'Breaking Codes and Finding Patterns' and enjoys working with large, complex data sets, especially in the areas of Immunology, Cancer Biology, and Microbial Ecology. Her theoretical research interests encompass applied probability, Monte Carlo Markov Chains (MCMC), Graph Limit Theory, and Differential Geometry related to Phylogenetic Trees. Notably, she authored the book 'Modern Statistics for Modern Biology' with Wolfgang Huber and regularly teaches an introduction to quantitative methods (BIOS221). Currently, her focus centers on enhancing the reproducibility of statistical analyses and performing data perturbation studies of the Human Microbiome. Holmes is an active participant in various scientific boards and committees and has received several prestigious honors, including a Fellow designation from the Fields Institute and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards

Courses