Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA: Murali Haran, an Indian American statistician, has been chosen to lead the Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics (JABES) as its editor-in-chief for a three-year term starting in 2026.
The journal, published by the American Statistical Association in partnership with the International Biometric Society, publishes research focused on statistical innovations that address problems in agriculture, biology, and environmental science.
Haran currently teaches statistics at Pennsylvania State University’s Eberly College of Science. He remarked that this is a pivotal time for the disciplines the journal represents.“The incorporation of sophisticated statistical methods, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and increasingly intricate datasets is transforming research in biology, agriculture, and the environment.” It will be exciting to see what new questions and approaches emerge,” he said.
His research spans areas such as environmental modeling, infectious disease dynamics, computational statistics, and spatial data analysis. At Penn State, his work has included collaboration with geoscientists on Antarctic ice sheet studies and projects examining disease spread with the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics.
In recognition of his contributions to environmental statistics, Haran received the El-Shaarawi Young Researchers Award in 2015. He has authored numerous publications in both applied and methodological statistical journals.
Haran joined Penn State in 2004 and led the Department of Statistics as chair from 2018 to 2024. He has also served as chair of the American Statistical Association’s Section on Risk Analysis and was treasurer of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis. His work in climate-related statistics includes participation in SCRiM, STATMOS, and advisory panels on climate policy.
In addition to this new editorial position, Haran has held multiple editorial roles previously, including co-editor of Bayesian Analysis and associate editor positions at Technometrics, The American Statistician, and Biometrics.
Haran earned his PhD and master’s in statistics from the University of Minnesota, and his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.
