During the spring 2007 semester, Brian Kriegler '01 decided to return to his "old stomping grounds" in Claremont specifically to the Reed Institute of Applied Statistics at CMC, where he served as a post-doctoral fellow.
Kriegler, who received his Ph.D. from UCLA's Department of Statistics in June, says returning to campus was another step forward in building valuable teaching experience. While working with the Reed Institute, Dr. Krieglerwho majored in mathematics and econ while he was a student at CMCtaught the computing component of Econ. 120 (mainly the statistical software R, an alternative to Excel) and assisted students with their final statistical projects. Reed Institute director Janet Myhre noted that Kriegler's teaching "excelled in this area."
Kriegler's perception of CMC students hasn't changed since his undergraduate years at CMC. "I had a good experience here as a student, and I was appreciative of the opportunity to return as a post-doctoral fellow," he says. "The students worked very hard. They were eager to pick up skills that are useful later on."
Another perk to teaching at CMC: "The classes are a little smaller than at UCLA, so it was easier to get to know the young men and women in my class," he says.
Kriegler's new Ph.D. will come in handy with ongoing litigation consulting projects. And on the heels of his work at CMC, his next role will be as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
The focus of his research is on statistical learning and its applications to social and environmental sciences.