James Odei, PhD

Assistant Professor - Clinical

Biostatistics

James Odei, PhD

Contact

1841 Neil Ave.
248 Cunz Hall
Columbus, OH 43210
Email: odei.3@osu.edu
Phone: 614-247-8048

Professional Overview

Dr. Odei comes to the college with a Ph.D. in Statistics. Prior to joining the OSU College of Public Health in the Division of Biostatistics, he served as a visiting assistant professor at OSU’s College of Arts and Sciences in the Department of Statistics, where he taught both undergraduate and graduate courses.

His research interests include spatial, temporal, spatio-temporal modeling using Bayesian methods and hierarchical modeling and applications to ecology and health. He believes that interdisciplinary collaboration is key to making scientific progress.

Areas of Research and Study

Spatial, Temporal, and Spatio-Temporal Statistics, Environmental and Ecological Statistics, Bayesian Hierarchical Modeling, Statistical Data Visualization, Infectious Diseases (HIV/AIDS, TB, etc.), Environmental Epidemiology, Statistical methods for observational studies in population health, health outcome research and social sciences, Behavioral Medicine and Psychology, Breast Cancer Prevention

Education

Ph.D., Statistics, Utah State University (USU), Logan-Utah, 2014
M.S., Statistics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), 2007
BSc., Mathematics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Tech., Kumasi-Ghana, 2001

Courses

PUBHBIO 2210: Biostatistics for Public Health Research
PUBHBIO 6270: Introduction to SAS for Public Health Students

Awards and Honors

  • USU Robins Award for Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year, 2014
  • USU College of Science Graduate Student Teacher of the Year Award, 2014
  • USU Dept. of Mathematics & Statistics Graduate Student Teacher of the Year Award, 2014
  • Utah State Legislature Official Citation of Honor, 2012
  • American Red Cross (Northern Utah Chapter) Community Good Samaritan Award, 2012
  • People Magazine (November 7, 2011 Edition) Hero of the Year Award, 2012
  • UNLV Best Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, 2006

Selected Publications

Odei, J.B., J. Symanzik, and M.B. Hooten (2014). "A Bayesian hierarchical model for forecasting of intermountain snowpack dynamics," Environmetrics, 25 (5), 324–340. DOI: 10.1002/ENV.2275.

Wilson, T.L., J.B. Odei, M.B. Hooten, and T.C. Edwards (2010). "Hierarchical spatial models for predicting pygmy rabbit distribution and relative abundance," Journal of Applied Ecology. 47, 401– 409. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2009.01766.x (BBC News Feature).