UC Davis experts: Statistics in business

The following UC Davis faculty members are available for comment on various topics related to statistics in business. If you need more help in finding a source for a related topic, please contact Julia Ann Easley, News Service, (530) 752-8248, jaeasley@ucdavis.edu.

Data mining and analysis

Professor David Woodruff of the Graduate School of Management explores the operations management of companies and organizations, including capacity planning, scheduling, supply chain optimization, materials management, inventory control, quality control and distribution. Also director of joint degree programs for the school, he is an expert in production planning under uncertainty, optimization and data mining, and data analysis. Woodruff teaches courses in production and operations management, the management of information systems, and the design and specifications of computer-based information systems. He recently co-authored a book that provides managers and information technology professionals with a basic understanding of computational optimization models for production planning in a supply chain. Woodruff serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Production Research, Production and Operations Management, the Journal of Heuristics and INFORMS Journal On Computing. Contact: David Woodruff, Graduate School of Management, (530) 752-0515, dlwoodruff@ucdavis.edu.

Practical applications in business, predicting sales to individuals

Professor Chih-Ling Tsai of the Graduate School of Management is a recognized expert in the practical application of statistics in business, including regression diagnostics, model selection, biostatistics and optimal design. He teaches courses on forecasting and managerial research methods, and time series analysis and forecasting. Tsai has developed new statistical models based upon regression and time series analysis, and co-authored a book on the subject. He has collaborated with other faculty members to produce a new method to analyze the effectiveness of advertising, which helps companies and media buyers determine an unbiased optimal advertising budget. He has also worked on projects to develop statistical methods that can be applied when analyzing long-term investment strategies. He has applied one of the newest techniques in statistics, called Sliced Inverse Regression, which helps predict sales response to individual customers based on, for example, where they live, how old they are, how many family members they have and income. Contact: Chih-Ling Tsai, Graduate School of Management, (530) 752-8565, cltsai@ucdavis.edu.

Using statistics to solve business problems

Assistant Professor Ning Zhu of the Graduate School of Management specializes in behavioral finance, corporate finance and investments. He teaches finance and statistics, including a course on the use of statistics and data analysis to solve problems in marketing, finance, accounting, production, operations and public policy. Zhu recently coauthored a paper arguing that even though each individual investor has little impact on the securities market, the collective buying and selling decisions of individual investors are highly correlated, cumulate over time and do have the potential to affect asset prices. Contact: Ning Zhu, Graduate School of Management, (530) 752-3871, nzhu@ucdavis.edu.

Media contacts:

• Julia Ann Easley, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-8248, jaeasley@ucdavis.edu

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