Dr. V.A. Samaranayake is a Chancellor’s Professor in the department of Mathematics and Statistics. He was a former interim chair of the department and a co-lead of the Data Science research constellation at Missouri S&T. He received his Ph.D. in Statistics from Kansas State University in 1983 and is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. Dr. Samaranayake’s current research interests include time series analysis and statistical applications in biological sciences. His research in time series range from building novel models for the forecasting of volatility and count data processes to analyzing data from wrist-worn devices.  A portion of this research is currently funded by a grant from the US Army.