![]() In return, graduate students in statistics gain an opportunity to apply their expertise to real-world scenarios – valuable experience for any new graduate looking to pursue an industry career. The group’s objective is to assist researchers in designing more robust experiments, honing their data modeling and analysis skills, and teaching them to use the software they need to carry any newly acquired statistical skills with them into future research. Offering statistical collaboration, consulting and support for research scientists in other disciplines across the university, SAIG is the embodiment of the scientists + statisticians = discovery formula. PHOTOS BY BRANDON SEMEL A university initiative provides applied experience, better science In order to augment the quality and precision of his findings, Semel sought a partnership through the Statistical Application and Innovation Group (SAIG), a Virginia Tech Department of Statistics initiative. Returning to Blacksburg from one such trip three years ago, Semel found himself facing several data challenges for which he was ill-equipped the data set was large, the variables multicollinear and the missing values many. This data then gets converted to nutritional information that can be more easily studied in the lab: minerals, fat, calories, fiber, protein. ![]() Each year, Semel makes the trek to the nation’s eastern montane forests to observe lemur behavior and record data such as bite rates, food quantity, food type and the time spent consuming different foods and soil. Lemurs, including diademed sifakas, the species that Semel studies, are endemic to Madagascar. “Learning more about specific lemur dietary needs will help us to focus conservation efforts on the best habitats that remain, to provide the best care for animals in captive breeding programs and to guide reforestation efforts.” “Forests in Madagascar are rapidly disappearing, threatening many of the over 100 lemur species that depend on them for food and shelter with extinction,” Semel says. Cracking this question could be the key to understanding how conservationists can better direct their management decisions to increase the likelihood that the species will survive. Existing hypotheses take into account a combination of nutritional, geographic and demographic factors and range from parasite mitigation to mineral supplementation to flushing toxins. Primates have long been known to consume soil – a behavior known as geophagy – says Semel of his research however, scientists have yet to explain why this behavior evolved and what purpose it now serves. From fieldwork to robust statistical modeling ![]()
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