PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Abel Rodriguez

Also known as Abel Rodríguez

Abel Rodriguez is a professor and chair of statistics at the University of Washington whose work covers Bayesian machine learning, nonparametric models and network analysis. He studied law and industrial engineering in Venezuela, earned a PhD in Statistics and Decision Sciences at Duke in 2007, and joined UC Santa Cruz. With David Dunson and Alan Gelfand, he coauthored The Nested Dirichlet Process in 2008. His 2024 work with Pedro Regueiro and Juan Sosa extended stochastic blockmodels to identify communities and supercommunities in networks. The American Statistical Association elected him a Fellow in 2022, and he became an elected member of the International Statistical Institute in 2024.

Works
142
Citations
2,070
h-index
20

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. By 2000

    Statistics studies in Venezuela

    Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, he earns undergraduate degrees in law at Universidad Católica Andres Bello and industrial engineering at Universidad Simón Bolívar. In 2000, he completes a master's degree in statistics at Universidad Simón Bolívar.

  2. 2007–2015

    A doctorate and UCSC

    In 2007, he completes his PhD in Statistics and Decision Sciences at Duke University and joins UC Santa Cruz as an assistant professor. His UCSC department is Applied Mathematics and Statistics, and he becomes a professor of statistics in 2015.

  3. 2008

    The nested Dirichlet process

    In 2008, he coauthors The Nested Dirichlet Process with David Dunson and Alan Gelfand as part of his research on nonparametric Bayesian models.

  4. 2012

    A Harrington fellowship

    He receives a Harrington Faculty Fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin in 2012, hosted by its Department of Mathematics. His work focuses on statistical methods for inference in network data.

  5. 2017–2020

    From UCSC to Washington

    From 2017 to 2019, he serves as Associate Dean for Graduate Affairs in UC Santa Cruz's Baskin School of Engineering. He also serves as associate director of the Center for Data, Discovery and Decisions. In September 2020, he joins the University of Washington as professor and chair of the Department of Statistics.

  6. 2022–2024

    ASA and ISI elections

    The American Statistical Association elects him a Fellow in 2022. In 2024, he becomes an elected member of the International Statistical Institute.

  7. October 2024

    Hierarchies in network data

    In October 2024, he coauthors Identifying Hierarchical Structures in Network Data with Pedro Regueiro and Juan Sosa. Their hierarchical extension of the stochastic blockmodel identifies communities and supercommunities in networks, with Markov chain Monte Carlo and variational Bayes algorithms for fitting the model.

  8. February 2026

    Chair of UW statistics

    In February 2026, he continues as professor and chair of the Department of Statistics at the University of Washington. He is an affiliate member of the eScience Institute and the Center for Statistics in the Social Sciences, and his research includes Bayesian machine learning, nonparametric methods and network analysis.

Career

  1. Since 2020University of WashingtonProfessor and Chair of Statistics
  2. 2007–2019University of California, Santa CruzAssistant Professor, Professor of Statistics

Education

  1. 2007Duke UniversityPhD in Statistics and Decision Sciences
  2. 2000Universidad Simón BolívarUndergraduate degree in industrial engineering
  3. Universidad Católica Andrés BelloUndergraduate degree in law

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Abel Rodriguez - About sites.stat.washington.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Abel Rodriguez, Instructor | Coursera coursera.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Abel Rodriguez - Research sites.stat.washington.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Past Harrington Faculty Fellows | Harrington Fellowship harrington.utexas.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. Welcome New Faculty | University of Washington Department of Statistics stat.uw.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Rodriguez elected as a 2022 ASA Fellow | University of Washington Department of Statistics stat.uw.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. Harchaoui & Rodriguez Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) | University of Washington Department of Statistics stat.uw.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. [2410.02929] Identifying Hierarchical Structures in Network Data arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  9. Abel Rodriguez | University of Washington Department of Statistics stat.uw.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  10. Rodriguez to Speak at the “Statistics and Data Science Programs – Challenges and Opportunities” Workshop March 20, 2026 | University of Washington Department of Statistics stat.uw.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.