Rate My Professor Scott Holan

Scott H. Holan is the Curators' Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Statistics and Data Science at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He holds a joint appointment as Professor of Public Affairs in the Truman School of Government and Public Affairs and serves as a Senior Research Fellow in the Office of the Associate Director for Research and Methodology at the U.S. Census Bureau. Holan received his PhD in Statistics from Texas A&M University in 2004. Throughout his career at the University of Missouri, he has advanced the fields of Bayesian methodology, spatial and spatio-temporal statistics, machine learning for dependent data including spatial, spatio-temporal, functional, and multivariate processes, official statistics, survey methodology, and environmental and ecological statistics. His contributions include developing innovative statistical models that support demographic estimation, data privacy, and forecasting, with substantial impact evidenced by over 3,450 citations on Google Scholar.

Holan has earned numerous honors for his scholarly achievements and public service. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2024), Fellow of the American Statistical Association, Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute. In 2025, the University of Missouri System awarded him the Curators' Distinguished Professorship, its highest faculty honor. He received the H.O. Hartley Award in 2016. Holan serves on the editorial boards of several leading statistics journals and is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics. His collaborations with statistical agencies exemplify his commitment to applying advanced methods to real-world challenges in data analysis and policy-relevant research.