Peihua Qiu, Ph.D., dean’s professor and founding chair of the department of biostatistics at the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions, has been elected a 2022 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
He is among more than 500 scientists, including 19 at UF, in the 2022 AAAS Fellow class. They are being recognized for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements by the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.
“We are incredibly proud of Dr. Qiu and his selection as a AAAS Fellow, one of the highest honors granted to scientists,” said Beth A. Virnig, Ph.D., M.P.H, dean of the College of Public Health and Health Professions. “Dr. Qiu is a nationally and internationally recognized thought leader whose work has led to many important advances in statistical science and health research.”
Qiu was selected in recognition of distinguished contributions to the field of statistics and its applications, particularly in jump regression analysis, image processing, statistical process control, survival analysis, disease screening, and disease surveillance. He has published two research monographs and over 150 research papers in refereed journals in these areas.
He is an elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the American Society for Quality, and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, as well as an elected member of the International Statistical Institute. He has served as associate editor for a number of top statistical journals, including the Journal of the American Statistical Association and Biometrics, and as the editor of the flagship statistical journal Technometrics.
Among Qiu’s current research projects is the development of a rigorous disease outbreak surveillance and detection system that could help public health officials contain disease outbreaks at their source, avoiding widespread health and economic impacts. Qiu co-leads the project, which is supported by a U grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A tradition dating back to 1874, election as an AAAS Fellow is a lifetime honor. Distinguished past honorees include W.E.B. DuBois, Ellen Ochoa, Steven Chu, Grace Hopper and Mae Jemison. Joining the ranks of Fellows last year were roboticist Ayanna Howard, actor and science communicator Alan Alda and molecular biologist Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado.