Rachel Fewster

Rachel M. Fewster is a British and New Zealand environmental statistician and statistical ecologist known for her work on wildlife population size, population genetics, and Benford's law, and for the development of the CatchIT citizen science project for monitoring invasive species.[1][2] She is a professor of statistics in New Zealand at the University of Auckland.[3]

Research

A common theme of Fewster's research has been the study of invasive species.[1] Her research on New Zealand offshore islands has shown that rats can swim hundreds of meters from one island to another, and therefore that eradicating rats on the islands requires keeping all nearby islands rat-free as well.[4]

Education and career

Fewster read mathematics at the University of Cambridge from 1992 to 1995, and earned a PhD in statistics at the University of St Andrews in 1999.[5] On completing her doctorate, she was offered a position as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Auckland, and has remained there since then.[1] She was promoted to full professor in 2019,[6] but delays due to the effects of Covid-19 meant that her inaugural lecture did not take place until 30 November 2020. [7]

Recognition

Fewster won a National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award in 2009.[8] She is the 2018 winner of the Campbell Award of the New Zealand Statistical Association.[1]

References
  1. Millar, Russell (December 2019), "Rachel Fewster: Recipient of NZSA Campbell Award 2018", Australian & New Zealand Journal of Statistics, Wiley, 61 (4): 397–400, doi:10.1111/anzs.12280
  2. "Dr Rachel Fewster", Women in Science, University of Auckland, retrieved 2020-08-28
  3. "Professor Rachel Fewster", University directory, University of Auckland, retrieved 2020-08-28
  4. White, Margo (September–October 2008), "You dirty rat", New Zealand Geographic
  5. Curriculum Vitae: Rachel Fewster, retrieved 2020-08-28
  6. "From sea snails to right whales: a walk on the wild side of statistics", Announcement of Fewster's inaugural lecture as professor, University of Auckland Faculty of Science, 2020
  7. "From sea snails to right whales: a walk on the wild side of statistics", Fewster's inaugural lecture, 30 November 2020
  8. Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching, 2009, retrieved 2020-12-01
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