Eva Murphy

Eva Murphy

Postdoctoral Fellow

Wake Forest University

Hi there!

I’m a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Statistics department at Wake Forest University. My mentor is Dr. Staci Hepler. I received my Ph.D. at Clemson University under the advisement of Dr. Whitney Huang. My research interests include spatio-temporal modeling, extreme value theory, and data fusion, focusing on environmental data. Specifically, I work on developing statistical methods that decompose complex structures into smaller parts that are easier to estimate, ensuring accurate complex system modeling. I am also interested in effectively exploiting circularity to analyze and interpret data exhibiting circular behavior accurately. These methods have practical applications in areas such as health science, climate change studies, and the creation of stochastic weather generators.

Interests

  • Environmental science
  • Spatio-Temporal statistics
  • Machine Learning
  • Data fusion

Education

  • PhD in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, 2023

    Clemson University

  • Master's in Mathematical Sciences, 2016

    University of West Florida

  • Bachelor's in Mathematical Sciences, 2006

    Babes-Bolyai University

Current Research

Spatio-temporal modeling of wind speed

with Dr. Whitney Huang, Dr. Ting Fung Ma

June 2022 – Present
  • Decompose the complex structure of the spatio-temporal wind speed process into smaller components that can be estimated more easily. Then combine these components to obtain an estimate of the overall process.

  • A smooth space-time function is used to capture the first-order mean structure, taking into account periodicity in time, and a combination of empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) and a first-order dynamical Gaussian process is employed to characterize the potentially complex second-order covariance structure.

  • A crucial aspect of the proposed model is its utilization of the annual "circularity" concept, which introduces spatio-temporal replicates allowing for a flexible nonstationary space-time modeling.

Modeling Directional Extreme Wind Speeds Using an Extreme Value Regression Approach

with Dr. Whitney Huang, Dr. Brook Russell

June 2021 – Present
  • Utilize methods from extreme value theory, namely the block maxima method and peaks-over-threshold method to investigate the potential enhancement of estimating extreme wind speeds.

  • Block maxima, peaks-over-thresholds, and point process methods, are utilized to model the upper tail of the conditional distribution of the extreme wind speed given wind direction.

  • Simulation studies, analysis of output from climate model simulation, and model comparisons are discussed.

Modeling of wind speed and wind direction through a conditional approach

with Dr. Whitney Huang, Dr. Julie Bessac, Dr. Jiali Wang, Dr. Rao Kotamarthi

June 2021 – May 2023
  • Develop a directional wind speed distribution using Weibull distribution in such way that that the parameters of the distribution depend on wind direction.

  • Construct the dependence of the parameters of the Weibull distribution on wind direction using harmonic regression via weighted least square.

  • Analyze the changes in wind speed and wind direction from present to future climate scenarios.

  • Poster presentation /A brief video presentation

Experience

Postdoctoral Fellow

Wake Forest University

Aug 2023 - Present Winston Salem, NC, USA

Graduate Research Assistant

Clemson University

Aug 2022 – Aug 2023 Clemson, SC, USA
Awards:
  • Outstanding Graduate in Research Award
  • ENVR Student Paper Award
  • Dr. Kenyon Fairey Graduate Fellowship
  • Call Me Doctor Dissertation Completion Fellowship

Graduate Teacher of Record

Clemson University

Aug 2018 – 2022 Clemson, SC, USA

Teacher of Mathematics

Mid-Carolina High School / Wade Hampton High School

August 2006 – June 2018 Newberry / Varnville, SC
High School Teacher of Mathematics

Adjunct Instructor

Piedmont Technical College

August 2015 – August 2020 Online

Adjunct Instructor

Midlands Technical College

August 2015 – May 2018 Columbia, SC

Near to Peer Mentor

STRIVE for MORE

September 2020 & Semptember 2021 Online

Contact