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Department News

Dennis Sun appointed new Associate Professor (Teaching)

photo of Dennis Sun

Dennis returns to Stanford in January to become Associate Professor (Teaching) of Statistics. Since receiving his Ph.D. in 2015 under the advising of Jonathan Taylor, he most recently has been Associate Professor of Statistics and Affiliate Professor of Computer Science at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and a Senior Data Scientist at Google.

Dennis was recognized for his teaching multiple times during his previous Stanford career. In addition to receiving our own Departmental Teaching Award in 2014, the university selected him for its highest teaching award, the 2014 Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching. The citation referenced his "innovative teaching that makes statistics fun, even for the most skeptical of students." He also was commended "for his drive to improve the learning experience and for the transformational impact he has had on how statistics is taught at Stanford."

Dennis lists statistical software, statistics education, data science, and audio signal processing among his research interests, with a focus on making statistics and data science more accessible by improving the way in which ideas are taught and communicated and by developing software tools to assist practitioners with existing methods. In addition to his research in statistics education and software, Dennis also collaborates with researchers in the fields of music and public health.