Laura Salter received her B.A. in Biology and Mathematics from Hiram College in 1994 and her M.S. in Statistics from OSU in 1996. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Biostatistics. Laura has served the Biostatistics Program as a Graduate Research Associate since Spring Quarter 1997. Her responsibilities include assisting the Program staff with various consulting projects, maintaining the Biostatistics Program web site, and serving as the editor of Biostat News.
Ms. Salter's dissertation research is in the area of evolutionary tree reconstruction using DNA sequence data. She is currently in the process of developing a computational algorithm which implements the maximum likelihood method of tree construction. Although other computational algorithms for this problem exist, Laura's algorithm is superior to those in that it significantly reduces the time required to analyze the data and it returns the optimal solution much more often than the existing methods. Laura's presentation of her research recently earned her first place in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division of the Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum, for which she received a travel stipend to allow her to present her research at a scientific meeting.
In addition to her research interests, Ms. Salter has been strongly interested in teaching. She served as a mentor for new teaching assistants last fall during the Faculty and TA Development teaching orientation program. As part of the program, she developed a special day-long orientation for statistics and mathematics TAs. Laura has also received university recognition for her teaching. She was awarded one of the ten Graduate Associate Teaching Awards in 1997, and was one of six such award winners to receive a Provost's Teaching Fellowship. Upon completion of her degree, Ms. Salter plans to seek a faculty position.
Laura is glad that she has had the opportunity to
work with the Biostatistics Program. She says,
"Being involved in interesting consulting projects has given me
the opportunity to develop my skills as a statistician,
and I have learned a great deal from both the Program staff and our
clients. This experience has been a
very valuable part of my graduate training."
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