Hepner Hall on SDSU campus

The research life and times of Richard A. Levine "Is mathematical analysis...only a vain play of the mind? It can give to the physicist only a convenient language; is this not a mediocre service, which, strictly speaking could be done without; and even is it not to be feared that this artificial language may be a veil interposed between reality and the eye of the physicist? Far from it; without this language most of the intimate analogies of things would have remained forever unknown to us; and we should forever have been ignorant of the internal harmony of the world, which is...the only true objective reality."                                                                                                                                             - Henri Poincare

• Markov chain Monte Carlo methods: my main interest in this area is the development of new MCMC methodologies and the study of MCMC implementation strategies in terms of computational efficiency and statistical precision, including convergence issues.

• Environmental statistics: my goal is the development of statistical methodologies for the study of environmental data towards understanding the Earth and the impacts of those nasty homo sapiens. My main focus is on detection of climate change and attribution of potential changes to anthropogenic and/or natural forcings. I am additionally interested in weather forecast verification and analysis of high dimensional climatological and geological images. My work is in collaboration with
  • Energy and Environment group at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory;

  • Professor N. Saito, University of California, Davis, and Professor D. Layton, Evans School of Public Affairs, U of Washington, funded by an environmental statistics grant from NSF/EPA.

  • the SDSU/UC Davis Joint Doctoral Program in Ecology, in which I am a member.

  • Geophysical Statistics Project at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado;

• Biostatistics: I am involved in a number of projects as a
  • statistical consultant and collaborator with the UCDMC Department of Ophthalmology as part of the Visual Field Reading Center (VFRC) and the ocular hypertension treatment study (OHTS);

  • collaborator with the Division of Biostatistics at the UCSD School of Medicine;

  • statistical consultant and collaborator at the SDSU Quality Assurance Project;

  • statistical consultant and collaborator with fragile X tremor/ataxia syndrome researchers from 1999-2004;

  • formerly a statistical consultant and collaborator at the UCD Medical College, projects dealing with cervical spine imaging, vision therapy programs, and hemodialysis graft failure;

  • statistical consultant with various CA state agencies including the Department of Corrections and Cancer Detection Service;

• Bayesian decision theory: I have a soft spot in my heart for decision theory. I enjoy dabbling in decision problems with Bayesian twists and neat computational nuances.

Here is the complete bibliographical list in chronological order within each of these areas. First are funded grants for which I am principal investigator. Second are articles in print, followed by manuscripts submitted for publication, and then conference proceedings.

Extramural Funding serving as PI:

• "Computational Environmetrics/Biometrics for Environmental Studies and Public Health Policy," Fulbright scholarship grant, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, 2007
• "Statistical Analysis of Uncertainty in Climate Change," NSF FRG-0139948, 2002-2006 (with L. M. Berliner and C. Wikle)
• "Bayesian Inventory Management under Censored Demand," NSF INT-0114738, 2001-2006 (with Ü. Gürler and E. Berk)
• "Probabilistic Modeling and Computational Methods in Environmental Statistics," NSF/EPA DMS-9978321, 1999-2001 (with D. Layton and N. Saito)
• "Parallel Computing Environment for Research in the Statistical Science," NSF DMS-0079430, 9/1/00 - 8/31/02 (with J. Fan, H. Li, W. Polonkik, and J-L. Wang)

• UCD Faculty Research Grant, ``Optimal Markov Chain Monte Carlo Samplers,'' 2001 - 2002

• UCD Faculty Research Grant, ``Improved Monte Carlo Markov Chain Sampling Schemes,'' Summer 1997

• UCD Junior Faculty Research Fellowship, ``Improved Monte Carlo Markov Chain Sampling Schemes,'' 1996 - 1997

• Lundberg Process Lifetime Distributions with Aging. Journal of Probability and Statistical Science 6, 13-24. (with J. Fan and S. Ghurye)

• To amnio or not to amnio: that is the decision for Bayes. (2007). Chance 20, 26-32. (with J. Fan)

• Bayesian Estimation for the AR(1) Model Using Asymmetric Loss Functions. (2007). Journal of Applied Statistical Science 15, 295-304. (with D. Bhattacharya)
• Bayesian demand updating in the lost sales newsvendor problem: A two-moment approximation. (2007). European Journal of Operational Research 182, 256-281. (with E. Berk and Ü. Gürler)

• Visual Field Quality Control in the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS). (2007). Journal of Glaucoma 16, 665-669. (with J. Keltner and the VFRC)

• Effects of abiotic factors on the phylogenetic diversity of bacterial communities in acidic thermal springs. (2007). Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 73: 2612-2623. (with S. Kelly and J. Mathur and collegues)

• Optimizing Random Scan Gibbs Samplers. (2006). Journal of Multivariate Analysis 97, 2071-2100. (with G. Casella)

• Assigning Tooth Prognosis by Multivariate Survival Trees. (2006). Journal of the American Statistical Association 101, 959-967. (with J. Fan, X-G. Su, M. Nunn, and M. LeBlanc)
• Asymmetries and Visual Field Summaries as Predictors of Glaucoma in the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS). (2006). Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Science 47, 3896-3903. (with J. Keltner and the VFRC)

• The Association Between Glaucomatous Visual Fields and Optic Nerve Head Features in the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS) (2006). Ophthalmology 113, 1603-1612. (with J. Keltner and the VFRC)

• Normal Visual Field Tests Following Glaucomatous Visual Field Endpoints In the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS). (2005). Archives of Ophthalmology. 123, 1201-1206. (with J. Keltner and the VFRC)

• Bayesian Approaches to Modeling Stated Preference Data. (2005). Applications of Simulation Methods in Environmental and Resource Economics, edited by R. Scarpa and A. A. Alberini. Springer, New York, Chapter 10. (with D. Layton)

• On Asymptotically Efficient Sequential Tests for First Order Autoregressive Times Series with a Unit Root. (2005). Journal of Probability and Statistical Science 3, 213-228. (with D. Bhattacharya)
• A Note on Markov Chain Monte Carlo Sweep Strategies. (2005). Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation 75, 253-262.

• Implementing the Random Scan Gibbs Sampler. (2005). Computational Statistics 20, 177-196. (with Z. Yu, W. Hanley, and J. Nitao)

• Implementing Componentwise Hastings Samplers. (2005). Computational Statistics and Data Analysis 2, 363-389. (with Z. Yu, B. Hanley, and J. Nitao)

• Sensitivity, Specificity, and other Diagnostic Measures with Multiple Sites per Unit. (2005). Contemporary Clinical Trials 26, 252-259. (with C. Drake)

• Comparing SF-36 scores across three groups of women with different health profiles. (2005). Quality of Life Research 14, 1251-1261. (with K. Yost, M. Haan, and E. Gold)

• An Automated (Markov Chain) Monte Carlo EM Algorithm. (2004). Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation 74, 349-359. (with J. Fan)

• Penetrance of the Fragile-X Associated Tremor/ataxia Syndrome (FXTAS) in a Premutation Carrier Population: Initial Results from a California Family-based Study. (2004). Journal of the American Medical Association 291, 460-469. (with S. Jacquemont, R. Hagerman, P. Hagerman, and collaborators)

• Alien fishes in California watersheds: characteristics of successful and failed invaders. (2004). Ecological Applications 14, 587-596. (with M. Marchetti and P. Moyle)

• Invasive secies profiling? Exploring the Characteristics of Non-native Fishes Across Invastion Stages in California. (2004). Freshwater Biology 49, 646-661. (with M. Marchetti and P. Moyle)

• How Much Does the Far Future Matter? A Hierarchical Bayesian Analysis of the Public's Willingness to Mitigate Ecological Impacts of Climate Change. (2003). Journal of the American Statistical Association 98, 533-544. (with D. Layton)

• Implementations of Matching Priors for Frequentist Inferences. (2003). Biometrika 90, 127-137. (with G. Casella)
• Mega Deal? A Relative Performance Analysis for Major League Baseball Players. (2004). Economics, Management, and Optimization in Sports, 163-184. (with C-D. Lin)

• Fragile X Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome: Molecular, Clinical, and Neuroimaging Correlates. (2003). The American Journal of Human Genetics 72 (4), 869-878. (with S. Jacquemont, R. J. Hagerman, P. J. Hagerman, and collaborators)

• Implementations of the Monte Carlo EM Algorithm. (2001). Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics 10, 422-439. (with G. Casella)
• Discussion of "The Art of Data Augmentation" by D. A. van Dyk and X. Meng. (2001). Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics 10, 51-58.
• The Newsboy Problem with Bayesian Updating of the Demand Distribution and Censored Observations. (2001). Bayesian Methods with Applications to Science, Policy, and Official Statistics, Selected Papers from ISBA 2000: The Sixth World Meeting of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis, 21-29. (with Ü. Gürler and E. Berk)
• NFL Y2K PCA. (2001). Journal of Statistics Education 9(3). (with M. Watnik)

• Bayesian Assessment of Climate Change. (2000). Journal of Climate 13, 3805-3820. (with L. M. Berliner and D. Shea)
• Multi-component Lifetime Distributions in the Presence of Aging. (2000). Journal of Applied Probability 37, 521-533. (with J. Fan and S. G. Ghurye)
• C-Reactive Protein Predicts All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in Hemodialysis Patients. (2000). American Journal of Kidney Diseases 35, 469-476. (with J. Y. Yeun, V. Mantadilok, and G. A. Kaysen)
• Statistical Principles for Climate Change Studies. (1999). Journal of Climate 12, 565-574. (with L. M. Berliner)
• Prospective Magnetic Resonance Imaging Assessment of Acute Cervical Spine Injuries in a Level I Trauma Center. (1999). Radiology 213, 203-212. (with R. W. Katzberg, P. Benedetti, C. Drake, M. Ivanovic, C. Beatty, W. Nemzek, R. McFall, F. Ontell, D. Bishop)
• Wavelets and Field Forecast Verification. (1997). Monthly Weather Review 125 (6), 1329-1341. (with W. M. Briggs)
• Repeated Challenge Studies: A Comparison of Union-Intersection Testing with Linear Modeling. (1997). Psychometrika 62, 435-455. (with P. A. Ohman)
• Convergence of Posterior Odds. (1996). Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference 55, 331-344. (with G. Casella)
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Occupation in U.S. Navy Enlisted Personnel. (1996). Archives of Environmental Health, 51 (5), 395-407. (with Garland, F C; Garland, C F; Doyle, E J Jr; Balazs, L L; Pugh, W M; Gorham, E D.)

• Review of the book "Statistical Methods in the Atmospheric Sciences" by D. Wilks. (2000). Journal of the American Statistical Association 95, 344-345.

• Review of the book "Practical Statistics by Example Using Microsoft Excel." American Statistician 54, 151-153. (with J. Fan)

• Frailty Modeling via the Empirical Bayes Hastings Sampler. (with J. Fan, P. Ohman, and S. Demirel)
• Predicting progressive glaucomatous optic neuropathy using baseline standard automated perimetry data. (with S. Demirel, J. Fan, C. Johnson, and PPIG group)
• The General Manager as a Sabrmetrician: Quantitative Decision-making for Designing a Winning (and Profitable) Team (with C-D. Lin and J. Davis)

• Virtual Reality of Sintering: Implementation of Multiple Scale Models. (2006). In Advances in Powder Metallurgy and Particulate Materials, Volume 1, Part 1. (work by PhD student G. Brown with B. Kushnarev, E. Olevsky, and V. Tikare)

• An Iterative Nonlinear Gaussianization Algorithm for Resampling Dependent Components. (2000). Proc. 2nd International Workshop on Independent Component Analysis and Blind Signal Separation. IEEE, Helsinki, Finland, 245-250. (work by Ph.D. student J. Lin with N. Saito)
• Polya-Lundberg Process Lifetime Distributions. (1999). Proceedings of the Joint Statistical Meetings, Baltimore, MD, Biometrics Section. (with J. Fan and S. G. Ghurye)
• Identifying Risk Factors Under Informative Loss to Follow Up. (1998). Proceedings of the Joint Statistical Meetings, Dallas, TX, American Statistical Association, Biometrics Section. (with C. Drake)
• Comparison of forecasts using the bootstrap. (1998). 14th Conf. on Probability and Statistics in the Atmospheric Sciences, Phoenix, AZ, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 1-4. (with W. M. Briggs)
• Wavelets and image comparison: new approaches to field forecast verification. (1996). 13th Conf. on Probability and Statistics in the Atmospheric Sciences, San Francisco, CA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 274-277. (with W. M. Briggs)
• Assessing the Effect of Low-Level Lead Exposure. Technical Report, Biometrics Unit, Cornell University. (with Y-L. Tseng and C-H. Tsao)

"Colleagues at work" by A. Fenech
On left is Professor Ülkü Gürler of Bilkent University, Turkey

Questions or comments, send me an email at ralevine@sciences.sdsu.edu
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