Aaron Osgood-Zimmerman

Education

• University of Washington, Ph.D. in Statistics
• University of Washington, M.S. in Statistics
• Swarthmore College, B.A. in Mathematics and B.S. in Engineering

Faculty Research Interests

My research interests revolve around modeling spatially or spatiotemporally correlated data. I was initially drawn to this field by applications in climate science, but after working on global public health models at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) for five years I have continued to focus on estimating health burdens across different geographies and times. In the past, I’ve worked on mapping the burden of child malnutrition in Africa, estimating rates of anemia in women of reproductive age in lower- and middle-income countries, and predicting cancer incidence and prevalence across Europe. I work on both theoretical and applied problems related to improving our estimates of spatial predictions and I also think about how these estimates can be disseminated and used to make data-driven decisions. I am interested in combining both of my applied interests to think about how future changes in climate may drive changes in health, how that relationship and outcome will vary at different spatial locations, and which communities these changes may most disproportionately affect.

Teaching Interests

I’ve taught a variety of statistics courses at academic and research institutes and I’ve also presented my research to a wide range of audiences. These experiences have encouraged me to find intuitive and understandable ways to describe complex statistical ideas. I use this experience in the classroom to offer multiple perspectives on the topics that I cover to help different learners find their own path toward understanding the material. By encouraging students to share their ideas and teach one another, I work to build a strong, inclusive, and welcoming community in the classroom. In an era dominated by algorithms and where data is constantly collected, collated, and regurgitated, I strongly believe that our society would benefit from increased data literacy and statistical literacy. It’s my goal that every student I interact with develops a deeper learning and appreciation of statistics and data science and that they leave better equipped to see the way these concepts constantly impact our day-to-day lives.

Recent and Representative Publications

Anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age in low-and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2018
D Kinyoki, A Osgood-Zimmerman, NV Bhattacharjee, et al. Nature Medicine 27, 1761-1782 (2021).

Mapping child growth failure across low-and middle-income countries
Local Burden of Disease Child Growth Failure Collaborators: D Kinyoki, A. Osgood-Zimmerman et al. Nature 577, 231-234 (2020).

Mapping child growth failure in Africa between 2000 and 2015
A Osgood-Zimmerman, A Millear, R Stubbs, et al. Nature 555, 48-53 (2018).