Josefina Lacasa

Assistant professor of statistics

Josefina Lacasa's research lies at the intersection between statistics and agriculture, where she works to improve quantitative methods applied by agricultural researchers.

What skills, ideas, or opportunities do you bring to the program or network?

I combine a background in agricultural sciences with statistics. I often see myself as a kind of extensionist, but instead of communicating best management practices to producers, I help people apply best practices for data analysis. I am committed to helping improve the quantitative methods applied in agriculture.

What excites you most about being an ID3A affiliate?

I'm excited to be part of a community that values interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange. I've already learned so much from my colleagues at ID3A. I'm especially looking forward to teaching more workshops and getting to know the students and all their cool research applications. The opportunity to foster meaningful conversations across disciplines drew me in.

Why do you value working in an interdisciplinary model across focus areas and colleges?

It's not only true that two heads think better than one, but two heads from different fields think especially better and more creatively than one. I often find that we approach a same problem in different ways that help us find a better solution. I think my background allows me to act as a translator between statistics and biological sciences. This allows me to teach and collaborate across different disciplines.