Rate My Professor Brian Zaharatos

Brian Zaharatos is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder, a position he has held since Fall 2015. He currently serves as Faculty Director and Program Director for the Master of Science in Data Science, which transitioned to the College of Engineering and Applied Science. Zaharatos earned his PhD in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from the Colorado School of Mines in 2015, with a dissertation titled Statistical Modeling of Photovoltaic Device Performance under advisors Luis Tenorio and Paul Constantine. He also holds an MS in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from the Colorado School of Mines (2013), an MA in Philosophy from the University of South Carolina (2012), where he passed the PhD-level comprehensive exam in the history of philosophy, and a BS in Mathematics and Philosophy from the State University of New York at Stony Brook (2007). His primary academic interests are in applied statistics and the philosophy of statistics, with work focused on statistical methods for photovoltaic performance modeling, applications in geography, residential building energy analysis, and statistical litigation support. Additional interests include ethics, philosophy of science, and phenomenology.

Zaharatos teaches courses such as STAT 4700/5700 Philosophical and Ethical Issues in Statistics, STAT 4630/5630 Computational Bayesian Statistics, STAT 4010/5010 Statistical Methods and Applications II, STAT 4000/5000 Statistical Methods and Applications I, STAT 4520/5520 Introduction to Mathematical Statistics, and APPM 3310 Matrix Methods. Previously, he was a Graduate Teaching/Research Fellow at the Colorado School of Mines (2011-2015), receiving the AMS Graduate Teaching Award (2014-2015) and the National Center for Photovoltaics Graduate Student Fellowship (2014); a Part-time Instructor at Red Rocks Community College (2013-present); and a Graduate Instructor and Teaching Assistant at the University of South Carolina (2009-2011). Key publications include “Estimability of the PV Single-Diode Model Parameters” (lead author, with Mark Campanelli and Luis Tenorio; Statistical Analysis and Data Mining, 2015), “Discovering an Active Subspace in a Single-Diode Solar Cell Model” (with Paul Constantine and Mark Campanelli; Statistical Analysis and Data Mining, 2015), “Trigger Warning: Disturbing Data Sets in the Classroom” (with Michael Glawson; Significance, 2018), and forthcoming The Philosophy of Statistics: An Introduction and “The Safe, The Sensitive, and the Severely Tested” (with Georgi Gardiner; Synthese). Other works appear in NanoEthics (2014) and Ethics, Science, Technology, and Engineering (Macmillan Reference, 2014). Awards include the Arts and Science Support of Education through Technology Faculty Fellows Program (2017-2018). Service roles encompass Statistics Committee, IT Committee, and Committee for the History and Philosophy of Science at CU Boulder, Faculty Advisor for the undergraduate SIAM chapter, and referee for PRIMUS. Invited talks include “Beyond the ‘Intersection’: A new Paradigm for the Integration of the Liberal Arts and STEM” (Colorado School of Mines, 2016) and “Beyond Algorithms: Philosophy of Statistics in the Standard Curriculum” (CU Boulder, 2016).