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Alan E. Gelfand

James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Statistical Science
Statistical Science
Box 90251, Durham, NC 27708-0251
223A Old Chem Bldg, Durham, NC 27708

Current Appointments & Affiliations


James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Statistical Science · 2018 - Present Statistical Science, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor Emeritus of Statistical Science · 2018 - Present Statistical Science, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Recent Publications


On prior smoothing with discrete spatial data in the context of disease mapping.

Journal Article Statistical methods in medical research · October 2025 Disease mapping attempts to explain observed health event counts across areal units, typically using Markov random field models. These models rely on spatial priors to account for variation in raw relative risk or rate estimates. Spatial priors introduce s ... Full text Cite

Hierarchical Modeling and Analysis for Spatial Data

Book · September 23, 2025 Hierarchical Modeling and Analysis for Spatial Data, Third Edition is the latest edition of this popular and authoritative text on Bayesian modeling and inference for spatial and spatial-temporal data. The text presents a comprehensive and up-to-date treat ... Full text Cite

Zero-inflated multivariate tobit regression modeling

Journal Article Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference · May 1, 2025 A frequent challenge encountered in real-world applications is data having a high proportion of zeros. Focusing on ecological abundance data, much attention has been given to zero-inflated count data. Models for non-negative continuous abundance data with ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


Process based data fusion for Marine mammal science

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Office of Naval Research · 2023 - 2026

Double MOCHA: Phase II Multi-study Ocean acoustic Human effects Analysis

ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by University of St. Andrews · 2018 - 2023

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Education, Training & Certifications


Stanford University · 1969 Ph.D.
Stanford University · 1967 M.S.
City College of New York · 1965 B.S.

External Links


Personal site