Dorman recognized with Dale D. Grosvenor Chair
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Karin Dorman, professor in both the Department of Statistics and the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology, was selected as the recipient of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dale D. Grosvenor Chair.
Dorman was selected because of her outstanding contributions in research and teaching excellence. Her research focuses on mathematical and statistical models in biomathematics and bioinformatics, especially in the areas of genetics, evolution, and infectious disease. She has also made extensive contributions to bioinformatics education at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Her research examines biological phenomena through mathematical models, which for example, can detect and distinguish technological errors from true biological variation or help track and perhaps predict selection events that drive virus survival and emergence. The work of Dorman, collaborators and students enables the extraction of significant information from massive sets of biological data.
“Many of the innovations that will drive verifiable scientific discovery from the massive datasets of today and the future will arise out of the interface of computer science and statistics, so I applaud the vision behind the Grosvenor Endowed Chair, and I am truly humbled to be the first recipient,” said Dorman.
The award was established by Dr. Dale D. Grosvenor, who graduated from Iowa State University with a Ph.D. in statistics, a master’s degree in statistics, and bachelor’s degrees in both mechanical engineering and agricultural engineering. He served on the faculty at Iowa State in the Department of Statistics, the ISU Computation Center, and the Department of Computer Science.
The award will help advance Dorman’s research by supporting students and efforts to develop rigorous, computational methods that extract useful information from big biological data.
Dorman received her B.S. in Mathematics and Biology from Indiana University in 1994, and her Ph.D. in Biomathematics from UCLA in 2001. Dr. Dorman joined the staff of Iowa State University in 2001 with joint appointments in the Department of Statistics and the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology.
The Iowa State University Foundation is hosting a ceremony to formally recognize Dorman April 1 at 10:00 am in the Memorial Union Gallery Room.