University receives Faculty Diversity Program award

The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI) has announced the recipients of the Faculty Diversity Program awards for the 2012-2013 academic year, including one for Binghamton University. Kobi Abayomi, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s M. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has joined Binghamton’s Department of Mathematical Sciences as an assistant professor.

The highly competitive Faculty Diversity Program brings outstanding scholars who have attained a record of distinction early in their academic careers to SUNY campuses. These faculty exhibit promise for scholarly productivity of the highest quality and have a demonstrated ability to work in diverse learning environments.

Under the program, ODEI provides state-operated campuses with faculty salary support for three years, as well as research support up to $15,000.

Kobi Abayomi completed his PhD in Probability and Statistics at Columbia University and has held research fellowships at Duke and Stanford universities. He has published six papers in highly regarded journals such as the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Annals of Applied Statistics, and The Lancet. His work employs sophisticated statistical analysis to address a variety of public policy and social justice issues, including wrongful conviction of criminal defendants and the effects of race on economic opportunity. He also has a strong interest in environmental policy and has developed an environmental sustainability index.

Abayomi has taught and mentored students at Duke University, Haverford College and Georgia Tech. He has taught a variety of courses, including introductory statistics and advanced courses such as experimental design, linear statistics models and applied dependency modeling.

At Binghamton, Abayomi’s wide-ranging research interests will allow him to collaborate with faculty and students in economics, environmental studies, political science, history, sociology, geography and engineering as well as statistics.