Our Team

The Data and Decision Sciences Lab is composed of top-tier researchers with years of experience in data science, operations research, and statistics projects.

Ph.D., Statistics, Iowa State University, 2015
M.Ec., Statistics, Renmin University of China, 2011
B.Ec., Statistics, Renmin University of China, 2006

Xiaoyue Cheng is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She received her Ph.D. in Statistics from Iowa State University in 2015, and her Master and Bachelor’s degrees in Statistics from Renmin University of China. Xiaoyue has taught courses at different levels at UNO including machine learning, time series, mathematical computing, statistical methods, etc.

Xiaoyue’s research interest includes data visualization, interactive graphics, statistical computing and simulation, machine learning, image object recognition, and exploratory data analysis. She has served as PI and co-PI of three research grants and has extensive interdisciplinary research experience in a variety of fields including public administration, K-12 education, psychology, public health, medical clinics, engineering, aviation, agronomy, and business marketing. She is the main author of six R packages and six visual dashboard web applications.

Xiaoyue is a member of the American Statistical Association (ASA). She has served as the Associate Editor of the R Journal since 2020, Editorial Board member of the National Accounting Review since 2019, and served on the Review Panel of the Student Paper Award, ASA Statistical Computing and Statistical Graphics Section in 2019 & 2020. Xiaoyue is elected as Secretary/Treasurer of ASA Nebraska Chapter for 2021-2024.

Williams T., Cheng X., Majumder M., Hastings M., Suh H., Dash K., and Yeo J., Collaborative Big Data Review for Educational Impact, School Community Journal, 30(2), 93-104 (2020).

Schiermann K., Cheng X., Fox H., Totusek S., Heithoff A., Dye A., and Majumder M., Interactive Visualization on the CNS HIV Anti-Retroviral Therapy Effects Research, JSM Proceedings, 2684-2695 (2018).

Majumder M., and Cheng X., Focusing on the Needs: Experiences of Developing a Data Science Program, Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 26(4), 779-780 (2017).

Luna F., Cheng X., and Majumder M., Interactive Visualization of Latino Political Participation in Nebraska and USA, JSM Proceedings, 3698-3709 (2016).

Cheng X., Cook D., and Hofmann H., Enabling Interactivity on Temporal and Longitudinal Displays, Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 25(4), 1057-1076 (2015).

Cheng X., Cook D., and Hofmann H., Visually Exploring Missing Values in Multivariable Data Using a Graphical User Interface,  Journal of Statistical Software, 68(6), 1-23 (2014).

Xie Y., Hofmann H., and Cheng X. , Reactive Programming for Interactive Graphics, Statistical Science, 29(2), 201-213 (2014).

Graduate Student

Project: Reconstructing High Frequency Flight Profile via Low Frequency Data Interpolation
Collaborator: University of Nebraska at Omaha – Aviation Institute

Graduate Student

Project: U.S. Public Library Performance Study
Collaborator : University of Nebraska at Omaha – Center for Public Affairs Research

Graduate Student

Project: Student Course Taking Behavior in Nebraska Public High Schools
Collaborator : Nebraska Department of Education; University of Nebraska at Omaha – Education Leadership
Sponsor: NU Collaboration Initiative Planning Grant

Graduate Student

Project: Acoustic Emission Data Processing via Machine Learning
Collaborator : University of Nebraska–Lincoln – Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Graduate Student

Project: Automatic Detection of Maize Tassels from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Images with Convolution Neural Networks
Collaborator: University of Nebraska–Lincoln – Department of Agronomy and Horticulture
Year: 2020

Undergraduate Student

Project: Crop Alignment Detection for UAV Imagery Data
Collaborator : University of Nebraska-Lincoln – Department of Agronomy and Horticulture
Sponsor: NU Collaboration Initiative Planning Grant;  Year: 2020

Graduate Student

Project: Decomposing Spending Behaviors to Improve Time Series Forecasting
Collaborator: First National Bank
Year : 2019

Graduate Student

Project: Spatiotemporal Data Visualization of the U.S. Public Library Performance
Collaborator: University of Nebraska at Omaha – Center for Public Affairs Research
Year: 2019

Undergraduate Student

Project: 3-D Visualization on Age-Based Population Data over Time
Year : 2019

Graduate Student

Project: Predicting Graduates for a Nursing Baccalaureate Program Using Machine Learning Algorithms
Collaborator: Creighton University – College of Nursing
Year : 2019

Graduate Student

Collaborator: Union Pacific Railroad
Year: 2019

Graduate Student

Collaborator: Union Pacific Railroad
Year: 2018

Graduate Student

Project: Visualization on the CNS HIV Anti-Retroviral Therapy Effects Research
Collaborator: University of Nebraska Medical Center – Department of Neurological Sciences
Year: 2018

Graduate Student

Project: Impact of Fiscal Transfer to the Performance of National Public Libraries
Collaborator: University of Nebraska at Omaha – Center for Public Affairs Research
Year: 2018

Graduate Student

Project: Recognition of Crop Alignment for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Imagery Data
Collaborator: University of Nebraska–Lincoln – Department of Agronomy and Horticulture
Year: 2018

Graduate Student

Project: Crop Detection in Aerial Imagery Data Using Deep Learning
Collaborator: University of Nebraska–Lincoln – Department of Agronomy and Horticulture
Year: 2018

Graduate Student

Project: Interactive-Visual Analysis on Nebraska’s Health Insurance Preferences
Collaborator: University of Nebraska at Omaha – Center for Public Affairs Research
Year: 2017

Graduate Student

Project: Interactive Visualization of Latino Population and Their Political Participation in Nebraska and the United States
Collaborator: University of Nebraska at Omaha – Office of Latino/Latin American Studies
Year: 2017

Graduate Student

Project: Influence of Path Characteristics in Spatial Memory
Collaborator: University of Colorado Boulder – Department of Psychology
Year : 2017