Dr. Zhao Ren, assistant professor of statistics, is the principal investigator of a new grant from National Science Foundation (Division of Mathematical Sciences). The undirected graphical model (GM) is a powerful tool for investigating the relationship among a large number of random variables in a complex system. Compared to recent advances in Gaussian GM, research in modeling and theoretical foundations for non-Gaussian data types, especially those (i.e., DNA copy number variation, mutation and single cell RNA-sequence data) from biomedical studies, has fallen behind. This NSF award will allow the PI to bridge this gap by proposing several new graphical models for non-Gaussian data, and developing statistical and computational inference methods with theoretical guarantees. Beyond fundamental advances in statistical modeling and theory, the research will have immediate impact in applications from a number of scientific disciplines including biology, pharmacy, finance and genomics. This project is titled "New Methods and Theory of Statistical Inference for Non-Gaussian Graphical Models.” In addition, Dr. Zhao Ren is also a recipient of the 2018 AMS-Simons Travel Grant by the American Mathematical Society and the Simons Foundation.  Each grant provides an early-career mathematician with $2,000 per year for two years to be used for research-related travel.