Congratulations to Dr. Ting Zhang on his appointment as Head of the UGA Department of Statistics, effective August 1, 2026.

 

Dr. Zhang received his Ph.D. in Statistics from The University of Chicago in 2012, where he was jointly advised by Professors Wei Biao Wu and Professor Lars Peter Hansen. Following faculty appointments at the University of Iowa and Boston University, he joined the Department of Statistics at the University of Georgia in 2021 as an associate professor. He was promoted to professor in 2025 and most recently served as the department's Director of Graduate Studies during the 2025-26 academic year.

 

Dr. Zhang is the Principal Investigator of the Ztatistics Lab (Zhang's Statistics Lab), which focuses on advancing the four major pillars of statistics: methodology, theory, computation, and applications. His recent research spans a broad range of topics, including serial tail dependence, high-dimensional time series, anomaly detection for complex data, nonparametric and semiparametric learning, self-normalized inference, and related areas. Research innovations developed by his lab have been applied to solve real-world data challenges across a wide range of disciplines, including atmospheric and environmental sciences, brain science, economics and finance, engineering and telecommunication, and medical science. His work has appeared in many leading journals in statistics and related fields and has had a significant impact on the discipline and the broader research community. He has maintained a strong record of research support from the National Science Foundation, including the prestigious NSF CAREER Award in Statistics and two currently active research grants.

 

In addition to his research accomplishments, Dr. Zhang is a dedicated and highly regarded educator who has taught a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses and is deeply committed to mentoring students. Beyond his research and teaching, Dr. Zhang has been deeply engaged in departmental service, most recently serving as Director of Graduate Studies, where he contributed to graduate program development and student recruitment.

 

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Ting Zhang on this appointment. We look forward to his leadership as the department continues to build on its tradition of excellence in research, teaching, and service. We are confident that under Dr. Zhang's leadership, the UGA Department of Statistics will embark on an exciting new chapter of innovation, collaboration, and achievement.