Award-Winning Statistician F. Jay Breidt Joins NORC Full Time
CHICAGO, January 10, 2022 – F. Jay Breidt, a seasoned statistician and part-time senior fellow at NORC at the University of Chicago, has joined our cadre of statistical experts full time.
A past professor and chair of the Department of Statistics at Colorado State University, Breidt has received many national and international honors for his extensive work in statistics. He brings deep expertise, honed over three decades of experience, including work with federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, Department of Homeland Security, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Forest Service, and NASA.
“Jay has been invaluable since he joined us part time in 2019, helping our teams with advanced approaches to sampling hard-to-reach populations and addressing non-response bias in survey estimation even as he continued in his role at Colorado State,” said Susan Paddock, chief statistician and executive vice president at NORC. “We are delighted that Jay will expand and deepen his focus on NORC and our clients.”
“As a full-time senior fellow, Jay will continue to develop innovative statistical approaches for key areas of research,” said Edward Mulrow, NORC’s senior vice president of Statistics and Data Science. “We look forward to having him mentor other statisticians, engage with NORC project teams and clients to identify cross-cutting areas to innovate and advance insightful solutions.”
Breidt is known for advancing a range of statistical methods, including survey sampling, time series, nonparametric regression, and uncertainty quantification for complex scientific models. He has published over 100 refereed papers and has presented over 150 invited short courses, conference talks, and academic seminars. He will continue his statistical leadership activities in the federal statistical community and statistics profession, including his roles as chair of the Census Scientific Advisory Committee and senior fellow at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences.
“I look forward to bringing advances in the field of statistics to bear on projects that will have an impact on important client and policy decisions,” said Breidt. “It will be a pleasure to collaborate with NORC’s statisticians and project teams to help hone approaches to best meet client needs.”
Breidt received his PhD from Colorado State University in 1991. Before returning to Colorado State in 2000, he spent the first nine years of his career at Iowa State University as an assistant professor and tenured associate professor. Breidt has taught all levels of courses in statistical theory and methods. In addition, he has served on six review committees for the National Academy of Sciences and two terms on the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee. He also served as the reviews editor for the Journal of the American Statistical Association and The American Statistician.
“Jay has been invaluable since he joined us part time in 2019, helping our teams with advanced approaches to sampling.”
About NORC at the University of Chicago
NORC at the University of Chicago conducts research and analysis that decision-makers trust. As a nonpartisan research organization and a pioneer in measuring and understanding the world, we have studied almost every aspect of the human experience and every major news event for more than eight decades. Today, we partner with government, corporate, and nonprofit clients around the world to provide the objectivity and expertise necessary to inform the critical decisions facing society.
Contact: For more information, please contact Eric Young at NORC at young-eric@norc.org or (703) 217-6814 (cell).