Biography
Growing up in Asia, Shu-Min Liao completed her PhD training in Statistics at the Pennsylvania State University and joined the College of Holy Cross as an Assistant Professor of Statistics and Data Science (SDS) in Fall 2026. She has encountered and survived from many unexpected challenges in life and is proudly living with disabilities and minority identities – all of which made her a better educator and researcher. Sparked by those unusual lived experiences, Shu-Min is particularly passionate about SDS education research and DEIAB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Belong) work, besides research on Copula-based model-free methodologies for statistical dependence and Nonparametric statistics. She is a firm believer that teaching is a job of heart and higher education is a career of conscience, so she never stops looking for ways to address modern student needs via statistical investigations. In her previous institute, Shu-Min created a new intro stats course named “Happy Intro Stats” to help her students understand the importance of mental health while integrating innovative inclusive pedagogy to make the course as accessible as possible for students of all backgrounds. She was also a faculty facilitator for the “Being Human in STEM” program at that institute.
Shu-Min is the recipient of 2023 Jackie Dietz Best Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education Paper Award, as well as the winner of 2024 Robert V. Hogg Award for Excellence in Teaching Introductory Statistics. She has actively served in the ASA (American Statistical Association) Committee on Statistics and Disability (CSD), as well as in the JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) Outreach Group.