Jerry Reiter

Jerry Reiter

Statistical Science

I graduated from Duke University with a BS in mathematics in 1992. After working for two years as an actuary, I got my Ph.D. in statistics from Harvard University in 1999. I landed back at Duke in the Department of Statistical Science in Fall 2002. Between 2010 and 2015, I was the Mrs. Alexander Hehmeyer Professor of Statistical Science, having been appointed as a Bass Chair in recognition of “excellence in undergraduate teaching and research.” I am honored to be the recipient of the Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award for 2007 (news story about the award). This annual award is given by Duke undergraduates to a member of the Duke faculty. I also am honored to be the recipient of the Outstanding Postdoc Mentor award for 2016 (information about the award).

I participate in both applied and methodological research in statistical science. I am most interested in applications involving social science and public policy, although I enjoy working with researchers in all disciplines. My methodological research focuses mainly on statistical methods for protecting data confidentiality, for handling missing data, and for modeling complex data including methods for causal inferences. In 2015, The Atlantic published a story about my research on methods for protecting data confidentiality. In 2009, Duke ran an article on my research interests that does a great job explaining some of the things that intrigue me. I am the Principal Investigator of the Triangle Census Research Network, which is funded by the National Science Foundation to improve the practice of data dissemination among federal statistical agencies.

Other Profiles and Links:

Related News

Jerry Reiter will be the next editor of Statistics and Public Policy, an open access journal of the American Statistical Association. The journal publishes papers that apply statistical methods to answer...

Related Projects

Large-scale databases from the social, behavioral, and economic sciences offer enormous potential benefits to society. However, as most stewards of social science data are acutely aware, wide-scale dissemination of such data can result in unintended disclosures of data subjects’ identities and sensitive attributes, thereby violating promises–and in some instances laws to protect...
The Triangle Census Research Network (TCRN) is an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Duke University and the National Institute of Statistical Sciences dedicated to improving the way that federal statistical agencies collect, analyze, and disseminate data to the public. Its primary mission is to develop broadly-applicable methodologies that transform and improve data...