Kumer Das

Dr. Kumer Das is the AVP for Research, Innovation, and Economic Development and Assistant Provost at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Previously, he was a professor of statistics and founding director of the Office of Undergraduate Research at Lamar University in Texas. Dr. Das also served as an interim associate provost for research at Lamar.

He received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Auburn University. His research interest is in the area of statistics, big data analytics, actuarial mathematics, undergraduate research, and international education.

He has received many regional and national awards for teaching, mentoring, and research. Notably, he was a recipient of the 2013 Mathematical Association of America’s Alder award for distinguished teaching. He was also a recipient of the 2016 Mathematical Association of America’s Robert V. Hogg Award for Excellence in Teaching Introductory Statistics.

He has published extensively on a variety of topics in statistics and mathematics with his undergraduate and graduate students. He was named the 2015 Lamar University Scholar in recognition of a lifetime of outstanding scholarly and creative achievements. He was also the recipient of Lamar University’s 2015 Julie & Ben Rogers Community Service Award and the 2016 Fulbright International Education Administrator Award to France by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. He is currently a 2022 APLU's Council of Research Fellow. He is a 2018 Fellow of the American Council of Education.

Over his career, Dr. Das has been involved with over $3 million in research grants and contracts as a PI or co-PI.

Ph.D., Mathematics, May 2005
Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama
Research area: Probability Theory, Statistics, Actuarial Mathematics.
Dissertation Title: The joint distribution of surplus immediately before
the ruin and deficit at ruin.
Advisor: Professor Jerry A. Veeh

M.S., Statistics, October 1998
University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Thesis: Reproductive Health: A Life Table Approach

B.S., Statistics, June 1996
University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Minor: Mathematics and Economics

Dr. Das's research interests are in extreme value theory, big data analytics, and stochastic processes.

Opportunities for Student Research/Collaboration:

Dr. Das is willing to work with both undergraduate and graduate students.

• Kenney, A*., Solomon, D*. and Das, K. (Accepted)“Sparse regression with clustered predictors”, Journal of Statistical Research.
• Reena, I., Hebert, E., Das, K. P., Doe, R., Dipti, S. M.*, Gope, N. C.* (Accepted)“ Anxiety and depression among U.S. international students during COVID- 19 pandemic”, College Student Journal.
• Tang, L*., Matt, J., Khoshlessan, R.,Das, K., and Allard, C. (2022)“A quantitative study of undergraduate students’ anxiety”, Journal of Education and Learning, Vol. 11, No. 5.
• Dey, AK. and Das, K. (2022)“How do mobility restrictions and social distancing during COVID-19 affect oil price?”, Journal of Statistical Theory and Practice.
• Dey, AK., Haque, T*. and Das, K., Panovska, I. (2021)“Impacts of COVID-19 local spread and Google search trend on the US stock market”, Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Applicationshttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2021.126423.
• Datta, A*. and Das, K. (2021)“The Changing Pattern of Export Advantage between American and Chinese Machinery and Transportation Equipment Sector: Analysis via Normalized Revealed Comparative Advantage”, International Journal of Comparative Management., Vol. 4. No. 1, pp. 36-52.
• Diawara, N., Grant, M., Ferguson, S. and Das, K. (2021)“Novel statistical analysis in the context of a comprehensive needs’ assessment for secondary STEM recruitment”, Computation, Vol 9, 105. https://doi.org/10.3390/computation9100105
• Islam, T.*, and Das, K. (2021)“Predicting Bitcoin return using extreme value theory”, American Journal of Mathematical and Management Sciences,Vol 40, No. 2, pp. 177-187. DOI: 10.1080/01966324.2021.1950086
• Acharjee, M.*, Forhad, N.* and Das, K. (2021)“Trend of Birth Spacing Impact on Physical Growth of Children under Age Five: An Analysis based on Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys”, Asian Journal of Pregnancy and Childbirth, Vol 4, No. 1, pp. 34-50.
• Dey, AK., and Das, K. (2020)“Predicting Federal Funds Rate Using Extreme Value Theory”, Stochastics and Quality Control. DOI: 10.1515/eqc-2020-0003.
• Das, K., Hapuwitharana, J.*, Fowler, J. and Young, S. (2020)“Non-negative matrix factorization: a useful method for two-way life tables”, Journal of Statistics and Management Systems, DOI: 10.1080/09720510.2020.1756048.
• Acharjee, M., Forhad, N. and Das, K. (2020)“Prevalent Factors Influencing Women’s Intention to Limit Childbearing: Empirical Evidence Based on Bangladesh Demography and Health Surveys”, Asian Journal of Pregnancy and Childbirth.Vol 3, No. 4, pp. 17-33.
• Noman, AHM.*, Das, K., and Andrei, S. (2020)“A Modified Approach for Data Retrieval for Identifying Primary Causes of Deaths”, The ACET Journal of Computer Education and Research, Vol 14, No. 1, pp. 1-13.
• Dey, A*., Edwards, A*., and Das, K. (2020)“Determinants of High Crude Oil Price: A nonstationary extreme value approach”, Journal of Statistical Theory and Practice, Vol. 14, No. 4. doi: 10.1007/s42519-019-0070-7
• Gomes, A., Atambo, D., Das, KO*., Cocke, D. and Das, K. (2018)“Electrochemical remediation of chicken processing plant wastewater”, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, Vol. 6, pp. 6028-6036.
• Bu, N*., Diawara, N., Das, K. and Waller, L. (2018)“New approaches to model simulated Spatio Temporal Moran’s Index”, Journal of Probability and Statistical Science, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 11-24.
• Lee, J*., Ciccarello, S*., Acharjee, M*, and Das, K. (2018)“Dimension reduction of gene expression data”, Journal of Statistical Theory and Practice, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 450-461.
• Rezvan, K. and Das, K., (2017) “Analyzing International Students’ Study Anxiety in Higher Education”, Journal of International Students, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 311-328.
• Das, K., Sams, C.*, and Singh, V. (2016) “Characterization of the tail of river flow data by generalized Pareto distribution”, Journal of Statistical Research, Vol 48-50, No. 2, pp. 55-70.
• Dey, A*, and Das, K., (2016) “Quantifying the risk of extreme aviation accidents”, Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Applications, 463, 34

Receipt of research awards, scholarships, fellowships:

• APLU Council on Research Fellow Award (2022), Association of Public & Land Grant Universities (APLU).
• University Scholar Award (2015), Lamar University. The University Scholar Award is the highest award given to a faculty each year for a lifetime of outstanding scholarly and creative achievements.
• National Science Foundation Research Fellow (2012 - 2013); Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute, Duke University, University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University.
• Travel Support Grant Award (2010), American Statistical Association.
• Project NExT Fellow (2006 - 2007); Mathematical Association of America.
• Texas NExT Fellow (2006 - 2007); Texas Section Mathematical Association of America.

Teaching Awards

• Robert V. Hogg Award for Excellence in Teaching Introductory Statistics (2016), by the Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America (SIGMAA) on Statistics Education.
• Faculty Mentoring Award (2015), Mathematics and Computer Science Division, Council on Undergraduate Research.
• Henry L. Alder Award (2013) for distinguished teaching, Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
• Nominated for the Piper Professor Award (2013), The Piper Foundation, TX.
• Nominated for the University Merit Award (2011), Lamar University, TX.

Leadership Award

• Fulbright International Education Administrator Seminar Award to France by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, 2016.
• Global Daily Point of Light Award for advancing education in the community by Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, 2016.
• American Council of Education Fellow, 2018- 2019