Nicholas Vence

Research

I earned my PhD in computational atomic physics from the University of Tennessee running quantum mechanical simulations on what was at the time one of the world's largest computers at the Joint Institute of Computational Sciences located at Oak Ridge National Laboratories. During my first postdoc at University of California Irvine, I used using machine learning to identify the phases of stem cells using the shape of their DNA. During my second postdoc at Loma Linda University, I joined a translational research team creating a proton computed tomography scanner and pioneering radiosurgery using small animals models, both to improve treatment on cancer patients). Later, I joined a prosective nutritional epidemiology study (N=96,000) as a statistical programmer.

I enjoyed each project; they were inspiring and I learned much from each group. However, I began to realize a troubling trend (structural flaw) in the economics of grant-funded research: funding growth does not match the growth of new researchers -- newly-minted PhDs like myself.

This imbalance means groups periodically experience funding lapses where unexpected budget cuts or a grant shortage means personnel can no longer be supported. [IMPOROVE] Having identified the problem, I've decided to be part of the solution by removing myself from the funding race by working for business supported by consumer demand.

Why a statistics blog

IMPROVE During my math undergrad and PhD in physics, I taught myself a lot of math. However, I never took a formal statistics course. Richard Feynman said that teaching is the best way to learn something. So in this blog, I'll be writing about interesting applications of probability and statistics.