For Paul McNicholas, statistical analysis is a bit like being a treasure hunter. He designs the right tools to sift through massive amounts of data to reveal secrets buried within. In the age of Big Data, McNicholas’ expertise in developing methods that explore data and reveal patterns and trends, along with the ability for those methods to be applied to numerous problems, means McNicholas’ work is attracting keen interest from a wide range of collaborators. For instance, he has developed methods for revealing how customers behave, locating pollution clusters for air quality monitoring and identifying the preferences of Airbnb users when renting an apartment for a weekend. Now, he’s turning his attention to other problems, including discerning autism trajectories to help with early diagnosis and treatment for children, where he hopes his research will have a positive impact on our understanding of the condition.

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