Rate My Professor Alethea Rea

Dr. Alethea Rea serves as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Mathematics, Statistics, Chemistry and Physics at Murdoch University. Holding a PhD in Statistics from the University of Auckland, her doctoral research centered on statistical approaches to phylogenetic networks, recombination, and testing of incongruence. Prior to her current role, which she assumed in November 2023, Rea worked at the Centre for Applied Statistics at the University of Western Australia. Her professional background also encompasses commercial experience as a statistical consultant at Data Analysis Australia and as a senior consultant at Analytics Australia. This diverse career path combines scientific rigor with practical data-driven decision-making in professional services, consulting, and insurance sectors.

Rea's academic interests focus on applied statistics and consulting, applying advanced statistical methods and data visualization to interdisciplinary research. Her collaborations have significantly contributed to fields such as human milk composition and lactation dynamics, ecological restoration, and biomedical device evaluation. Notable publications include "Relationships between Breastfeeding Patterns and Maternal Body Composition" (Nutrients, 2018), "Human Milk Adiponectin and Leptin and Infant Body Composition" (Nutrients, 2018), "Daily variation of macronutrient concentrations in mature human milk" (Scientific Reports, 2021), and recent works like "Maternal Factors, Breast Anatomy, and Milk Production During Exclusive Lactation" (Lactation, 2025) and "Apple Watch best in class wearable devices" (PLoS ONE, 2025). With more than 1,500 citations and an h-index of 22 according to Google Scholar, her research demonstrates substantial influence in statistical applications to biomedicine and ecology. In teaching, Rea has been recognized with the College of STEM Learning & Teaching Award in 2025 for her innovative flipped classroom approach paired with programming in first-year statistics. She has delivered public lectures, including a presentation to the Statistical Society of Australia Western Australia branch on modern teaching methods in statistics. Additionally, she contributes to postgraduate supervision, such as in functional ecology projects related to post-mining rehabilitation.