Grace Chiu

Dr Grace Chiu is an Environmental Statistican working with CSIRO Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics.

Dr Grace Chiu: developing statistical methods to understand, monitor and predict the environment

Dr Grace Chiu uses statistical modelling techniques for environmental applications.

  • 11 October 2011 | Updated 28 February 2013
  1. Overview
  2. Publishing History

Overview

Page 1 of 2

Current activities

Dr Grace Chiu develops statistical methodologies for understanding food web ecosystems.

Working with the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, Dr Chiu uses statistical tools to understand fisheries patterns attributable to natural phenomena and human activities.

Background

Prior to joining CSIRO Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics in October 2009, Dr Chiu was Assistant Professor (tenure-track) at the University of Waterloo, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Canada, with which she held an adjunct faculty appointment until 2012.

Current and past graduate students under her supervision have conducted statistical research with an environmental focus.

'Accounting for randomness in data is the key to making honest assessments and predictions about our environment which is full of uncertainty.'
Dr Grace Chiu

While in Waterloo, Dr Chiu organised the 2007 Fields Institute Summer Workshop on Environmetrics aimed to spark interest in quantitative environmental research from non-coastal Canadian research institutions.

She also spent more than two years as Postdoctoral Fellow at the Northwest Research Center for Statistics and the Environment of the University of Washington, USA.

Since 2006 she has been an affiliate faculty member at the Washington Department of Statistics.

For many years, Dr Chiu has been an active member of The International Environmetrics Society, and is currently Webmaster of the society.

She is also an Associate Editor of the society journal, Environmetrics.

Academic qualifications

Dr Chiu has been awarded a:

  • Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Statistics (double major) from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada, 1994
  • Master of Science in Statistics from the UBC, 1996
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics from the Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada, 2002.

Achievements

Dr Chiu's professional achievements include:

  • American Statistical Association (ASA) - Section on Statistics and the Environment (ENVR) - Young Investigator Award 2012
  • Elected member of the International Statistical Institute, November 2011
  • Australian Academy of Science Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tank Award 2011
  • Statistical Society of Canada Pierre Robillard Award for best Canadian statistics thesis from 2002
  • First Prize (oral and written), 2002 IBS-WNAR Student Paper Competition
  • Research grants (past and current) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada
  • NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship and Postgraduate Scholarships (various)
  • Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • Affiliate and adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Washington (USA) and University of Waterloo (Canada)
  • Associate editorship with the journal Environmetrics
  • Publications in highly respected scientific journals
  • Invited speaker/panellist at universities and professional conferences
  • Numerous undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships and academic awards (including Gertrude M. Cox Scholarship by the American Statistical Association, and Stanley W Nash Medal by the UBC Department of Statistics).

Read more about CSIRO's work in Environmental monitoring and analysis.