Rate My Professor Eduardo Montoya

Eduardo Montoya is a Professor of Statistics in the Department of Mathematics at California State University, Bakersfield, where he also serves as Faculty Director of the General Education Program since 2023. A first-generation college graduate and CSUB alumnus, Montoya earned his B.S. in Mathematics from California State University, Bakersfield in 2003, with support from the Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) Schools Program and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP). He pursued advanced studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, receiving an M.A. in Statistics in 2004 and a Ph.D. in Statistics and Applied Probability in 2009, during which he held a fellowship. Upon completing his doctorate, Montoya joined CSUB as Assistant Professor of Statistics in 2009, advancing to Associate Professor in 2015 and full Professor in 2020. From 2016 to 2022, he directed the CSUB Center for Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST), emphasizing climate science, natural resource solutions for water-limited environments, and research on Sierra Nevada snowpack and water resources.

Montoya's academic interests focus on regression smoothing methods, functional data analysis, computational statistics, data mining techniques, regression splines, penalized splines, and the development and application of statistical methods in environmental sciences. His scholarly contributions include the publication "On the Number of Independent Pieces of Information in a Functional Linear Model with a Functional Response" in 2020, as well as co-authorship on "Burn Severity and Its Impact on Soil Properties: A Study of the 2016 Erskine Fire in the Southern Sierra Nevada, California" in 2023. Montoya contributes to university governance as a member of the Academic Affairs Committee, General Education Curriculum Committee (GECCo), and Faculty Advisory Committee for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity. He also serves in roles supporting academic programs, including as Faculty Director for General Education and involvement in senate elections and appointments within the Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering college. Committed to student success, particularly for first-generation learners, Montoya mentors through research opportunities and program leadership at CSUB.