Su Chen, Ph.D.

About me

Currently, I work as an Associate Professor of Instruction for the Department of Statistics and Data Science at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining the University of Texas, I was an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Center for Transforming Data to Knowledge (D2K Lab) and former Director of the Data Science Minor Program at Rice University.

I have extensive experience developing and teaching undergraduate courses in math, statistics and data science at multiple institutions including UT-Austin and Texas A&M University. During my time at Rice University, I have developed two courses that highlight experiential learning in Statistics and Data Science. I am passionate about curriculum development and pedagogical innovation, and helping students succeed.

I graduated with a PhD in Statistics at UT-Austin, advised by Prof. Stephen Walker. My doctoral research lies in the intersection of methodology, theory and computation of Bayesian statistics and their applications to high dimensional data analysis.

I earned my Bachelor's of Science in Applied Math from Zhejiang University in China, and my Master's of Science in Math and Actuarial Science from UT-Austin. I am a certified actuary and has experience working in insurance and actuarial consulting firms before returning to academia.

I enjoy traveling and exploring the world. I consider myself a lifelong student, because learning new things gives me the most joy and satisfaction in life.