The NC State Department of Statistics celebrated the accomplishments of its Spring 2026 graduates during its departmental commencement ceremony on Friday, May 8th at the McKimmon Center. Family, friends, faculty, and staff gathered to honor those graduates in attendance who were earning bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, and certificates while also recognizing outstanding student and faculty award recipients. Several students earned academic honors, including 21 summa cum laude, 11 magna cum laude, and 14 cum laude distinctions. In addition, there were five undergraduate and four graduate students recognized as members of Mu Sigma Rho (the national honor society for statistics).

The ceremony was led by Department Head Dr. Kimberly Sellers and featured a commencement address from Dr. Hadley Wickham, Chief Scientist at Posit PBC (formerly RStudio) and one of the most influential figures in modern statistical computing. Known throughout the data science community for creating groundbreaking open-source tools including ggplot2 and the tidyverse, Dr. Wickham has helped shape how millions of people analyze, visualize, and communicate data. In addition to his role at Posit, he serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Auckland, Stanford University, and Rice University. His many honors include being named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and receiving the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) Presidents’ Award – one of the highest recognitions in the statistical sciences.

Congratulations to all Spring 2026 graduates, award recipients, and honorees. Their accomplishments exemplify the excellence, dedication, and impact that continue to define the NC State Department of Statistics. Interested persons can view pictures from the occasion here.

Student Awards

Three graduating seniors were recognized for exceptional achievement during their undergraduate careers.

• Mason Donehoo received the Statistics Outstanding Research Award, presented annually to a student who has demonstrated excellence and significant achievement in undergraduate research.
• Sophia Woodson received the Statistics Outstanding Scholarship Award, recognizing outstanding academic performance and achievement in statistics.
• Eli Carico received the Statistics Outstanding Community Engagement Award, honoring a student who has made meaningful contributions through service, leadership, and engagement within the department, university, or broader community.

Several graduate students were recognized for their accomplishments in scholarship, teaching, communication, and service.

• Jisu Oh received the BB Bhattacharyya Graduate Excellence Award for his remarkable work on novel frequentist and Bayesian multivariate goodness-of-fit tests using linear projections, which combined techniques across empirical process theory, Gaussian processes, RKHS, and harmonic analysis. He is on his way to writing a very strong dissertation and will have a very bright career.  
• Joseph Harrison received the Paige Plagge Award in recognition of his involvement in numerous department activities and the consistent kindness he showed to fellow Ph.D. students and students in his ST 311 (Introduction to Statistics) section. 
• Cass Crews received the Rawlings Family Award for Communication in Data Science in light of his exceptional communication and engagement in ST 544 (Applied Categorical Data Analysis). He demonstrated a willingness to assist fellow students, fostering a supportive learning environment. His course projects were consistently among the most thorough and well-written, exploring complex and compelling research questions with outstanding attention to detail. 
• Anqi Zhao received the William H. Swallow Fellowship Award in recognition of her academic performance, remarkable early research progress, and positive impact to the department as a whole. 
• Ben Bowles received the William Mendenhall Graduate Award for Excellence in Teaching of Statistics for his teaching of ST371 (Introduction to Probability and Distribution Theory) during both the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 semesters. His teaching mentor noted Ben’s independence with creating the course content and his effectiveness as an instructor.
• Daniel Cui received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award for his contributions in both the instruction and course development for ST307 (Introduction to Statistical Programming in SAS) and ST308 (Introduction to Statistical Programming in R). Daniel helped Dr. Elijah Meyer more effectively coordinate the instruction across the many sections of these two courses to improve communication and consistency. 
• Kristopher Wilson received the Francis Giesbrecht Award for Statistical Consulting in recognition of his outstanding work with the NC State Libraries/Data Science and AI Academy (DSA) Consulting Program. He was highly sought after by clients, maintained a full schedule of appointments, and consistently received excellent reviews for his expertise and support. In addition, he demonstrated leadership by facilitating a workshop and contributing to the program’s educational outreach efforts. 
• Qiurui Du received the Gertrude M. Cox Academic Achievement Award for her outstanding performance on the August 2025 Qualifying Examination. 

Faculty Awards

The department also recognized faculty members whose contributions have strengthened the department’s teaching, research, mentorship, and service missions.

• Dr. Nathaniel (Nate) Josephs received the Dennis Boos Citizenship Faculty Award. This award is made in recognition of Nate Josephs’ contributions to the department’s community and engagement. He chaired the department’s Seminar Series Committee, encouraged participation in meetings, and regularly interacts with students and faculty. His efforts have helped foster a welcoming and connected environment within the department. 
• Dr. Marie Davidian received the Cavell Brownie Mentoring Faculty Award. This award is made in recognition of Dr. Marie Davidian’s longtime record of mentoring graduate students. She has advised or co-advised 27 Ph.D. students at NC State, many of whom have continued in the field and contributed to research. She has also taught widely attended graduate courses in biostatistics. Her sustained involvement in student mentoring is recognized through this award. 
• Dr. Emily Griffith received the D.D. Mason Faculty Award. This award is made in recognition of Dr. Emily Griffith’s service to the Department of Statistics. As co-Associate Department Head, she has helped coordinate communication across the department and with college leadership. She has also contributed to the department’s consulting efforts, including her role with the Data Science and AI Academy. Her work has supported the department’s operations and outreach. 

Doctoral Hooding Ceremony

A highlight of the ceremony was the hooding of the department’s doctoral graduates. The doctoral hooding ceremony symbolizes the successful completion of the highest academic degree and welcomes graduates into the community of scholars.

Brandon Ray Feng earned the Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics. His dissertation, Adaptive Uncertainty Quantification Methods for Machine Learning, was completed under the direction of Dr. Brian Reich.

Haitao Jiang earned the Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics. His dissertation, Design and Optimization of Domain-Specific Large Language Model Agents: Towards Automated Causal Inference, was co-advised by Dr. Wenbin Lu and Dr. Rui Song.