StatsUpAI
Empowering statisticians to participate in AI research and leadership
A year of milestones, innovation, and community growth
A Message from the Chair
December 2025
As we close out 2025, I want to take a moment to reflect on the mission of StatsUpAI — and what the name means to convey. It is an invitation to action: let's elevate the role of statistics in shaping the future of artificial intelligence. It's a nod to rigor, and to a vision of AI that is principled, transparent, and grounded in data-driven understanding.
This year has been a remarkable one as you will learn from reading this newsletter. Each of these accomplishments reflects not just what we've built, but who has built it — a dedicated, generous, and vibrant network of researchers, students, educators, and practitioners.
To all of you: thank you for being part of the StatsUpAI community. Your engagement, curiosity, and collaboration have been the foundation of everything we've achieved.
And to the volunteers who have worked behind the scenes — building our website and social media contents, curating resources, and handling countless logistics — your quiet leadership has powered this momentum. We truly could not have done this without you.
Looking ahead to 2026, we're excited to continue building, learning, and growing — together.
Warmest wishes for the new year,
Tian Zheng
Chair, StatsUpAI
Columbia University
2025 By The Numbers
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence has fundamentally reshaped how data are generated, analyzed, and interpreted across scientific disciplines. In this evolving landscape, the role of statistics has never been more critical—not only to improve model performance, but to ensure reliability, interpretability, and principled decision-making in AI-driven research.
Against this backdrop, 2025 marked a defining year for StatsUpAI. Recognized as an official Interest Group by the American Statistical Association (ASA), StatsUpAI has emerged as a growing community for advancing statistically grounded AI research. This milestone reflects a shared commitment within our community to place statistical rigor, uncertainty quantification, and methodological transparency at the core of modern AI development.
In 2025, our theme was AI in health data science. StatsUpAI highlighted research and collaboration spanning neuroimaging, genomics, electronic health records, and clinical trials. By highlighting statisticians who are leaders in these interdisciplinary fields, StatsUpAI promotes approaches that are not only powerful, but also trustworthy, reproducible, and clinically meaningful—demonstrating how statistics continues to shape the future of health data science in the AI era.
