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Photograph of Aleka Kapatou

Aleka Kapatou Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer Mathematics and Statistics

Degrees
PhD, Statistics, Virginia Tech


MS, Statistics, University of Georgia


BS, Geology, National University in Athens, Greece

Bio
Alexandra (Aleka) Kapatou grew up in the sunny, Mediterranean country of Greece. Her studies in Greece included mathematics, architectural drawing, freehand drawing, and geology. After arriving in the US, and after some graduate studies in geosciences and geostatistics, she changed direction and studied theoretical and applied statistics where she found her niche.


Aleka Kapatou has done research in quality and process control (mainly multivariate nonparametric control charts), and design of experiments with applications to clinical trials. Her current research interests include studies in education and risk analysis, especially as applied to food safety. She has served twice as the Chair of the Risk Analysis Section of the American Statistical Association (ASA).


At American University, Aleka Kapatou teaches advanced graduate courses in statistics, as well as introductory undergraduate courses. She is the Director of the Statistical Consulting Center (SCC). SCC serves the University and the DC community, by providing statistical consulting free of charge. In return, Professor Kapatou's graduate students receive training in statistical consulting with actual live projects.


In her personal time, Aleka Kapatou serves on the Board of Directors of the Tanterra Home Owners Association, which represents 390 households. She also represents Tanterra HOA at GOCA, the Greater Olney Civic Association.


Aleka Kapatou is an avid reader of books on mysteries and comedies. Her favorite authors are Agatha Christie and P.G. Wodehouse. Due to her family history and experiences, she is also interested in the psychology of isolated, marginalized, and persecuted groups and vulnerable individuals; and the societal and cultural impact of oppression as expressed through songs and music.
See Also
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Statistical Consulting Center
American Statistical Association
Section on Risk Analysis, ASA
Tanterra HOA
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Teaching

Fall 2024

  • STAT-203 Basic Statistics With Calculus

  • STAT-204 Intro to Business Statistics

  • STAT-204 Intro to Business Statistics

Spring 2025

  • STAT-516 Design of Experiments

  • STAT-798 Statistical Resch & Consulting

Partnerships & Affiliations

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Research Interests

Aleka Kapatou has done research on quality control and process control (mainly multivariate nonparametric control charts), and on design of experiments with applications to clinical trials. Her current research interests include studies in education and risk analysis, especially as applied to food safety.  

 

Professional Presentations

INVITED 

Session Discussant, Bernard Harris Memorial Symposium “Risk in the 21st Century”, Section on Risk Analysis, ASA, Institute of Advanced Analytics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, will be published in proceedings (May 10-11, 2018).

Invited panelist: “Her Campus American: Women in STEM Panel”. Invited to participate as a panelist in a presentation and discussion about including women and women's experiences in the STEM fields (Fall 2017).

Presented a paper titled “Improving Statistical Literacy Through Supplemental Instruction” in ICOTS9, the International Conference on Teaching Statistics, Flagstaff, AZ (July 2014).

“Improving Risk Literacy through Supplemental Instruction,” presented at the Joint Statistical Meetings, Montreal, Canada (August 2013).

“Design of Cost-effective Experiments” presented in the Joint Statistical Meetings of the American Statistical Association (ASA), Section on Risk Analysis, held in Miami, Florida (August 2011).

“Design of Cost-effective Experiments” presented in the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (June 2011).

Model Lecture on “Introduction to Confidence Intervals” presented in the Department of Statistics, George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia (March 2011).

Gave a seminar in the Center for Vaccine Development, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland (November 2007).

Presented a paper on “Design of Cost-effective Experiments” in the Annual Meeting of the Institute of Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS): Cluster of Quality, Statistics, and Reliability, held in Atlanta, Georgia (October 2003).

Gave a talk in the Statistical Engineering Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland (October 2002).

Gave a seminar in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Surveillance, and Epidemiology of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia (September 2002).

Presented a paper on “Multivariate Exponentially Weighted Moving Average Control Charts based on the Sign and Signed-Rank Statistics” in the International Conference on Current Advances and Trends in Nonparametric Statistics held in Crete, Greece (July 2002).

Presented a seminar on “Nonparametric MEWMA control charts using small samples” in the Seminar Series of the Department of Statistics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (November 2000).

Presented a seminar on “Multivariate nonparametric control charts using small samples” in the Seminar Series of the Department of Statistics at George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia (April 2000).

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

Elected member of the Board of Directors, Tanterra Home Owners Association (HOA) which represents 390 households, Brookeville, Maryland (November 9, 2011-present).

Appointed representative of the Tanterra Home Owners Association (HOA) at the Greater Olney Civic Association (GOCA), Maryland (December 8, 2010-present).

Nominated for a Trachtenberg Prize and a Bender Teaching Award at George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia (2004).

Runner-up Outstanding Presentation Award given by the ASA Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences (SPES) for a talk on “Robustness of Multivariate EWMA Control Charts when the Covariance  Matrix is estimated using Small Samples” presented in the Joint Statistical  Meetings held in New York, New York (August 2002).

Served as a member of the Judiciary Panel, Graduate Honor System, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia (1993-1995).

Elected president of the Hellenic Association at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia (1994-1995).

Elected president of the International Club at the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia (1987-1988).

 

Selected Publications

Kapatou, A. (August 1, 2018). "People, Ideas Come Together at Risk Analysis Symposium" in AmStat News. (vol. 2018, no. August 2018, Issue #494, pp. 44-45). Alexandria, Virginia: American Statistical Association. http://magazine.amstat.org.

Kapatou, A. (2014), “Improving Statistical Literacy Through Supplemental Instruction” ICOTS9 Proceeding (International Conference on Teaching Statistics). Submitted in December 2013; appeared on September 5, 2014 (on-line)

Kapatou, A., and Reynolds, M. R., Jr. (2001), “Multivariate Nonparametric EWMA Control Charts Using Small Samples,” Technical Report #364, Department of Statistics, University of Michigan.

Kapatou, A., and Banks, D. L. (1999), “Design of Cost-effective Experiments,” 1999 ASA Proceedings - Section on Quality and Productivity.

Kapatou, A., and Reynolds, M. R., Jr. (1998), “Multivariate Nonparametric Control Charts for the Case of Known S,” 1998 ASA Proceedings - Section on Quality and Productivity.

Kapatou, A. (1996), “Multivariate Nonparametric Control Charts for Short Production Runs,” Technical Report Number 96-1, Dept. of Statistics, Virginia Tech.

Kapatou, A., and Reynolds, M. R., Jr. (1995), “Multivariate Nonparametric Control Charts Using Small Samples,” Technical Report Number 95-1, Dept. of Statistics, Virginia Tech.

Kapatou, A., and Reynolds, M. R., Jr. (1994), “Multivariate Nonparametric Control Charts Using Small Samples,” 1994 ASA Proceedings - Section on Quality and Productivity. 

 

Professional Presentations

CONTRIBUTED 

Gave a colloquium titled “Improving Statistical Literacy Through Supplemental Instruction” in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, American University, Washington DC (April 2014).

Design of Cost-effective Experiments” presented in the Joint Statistical Meetings held in San Francisco, California (August 2003).

“Robustness of Multivariate EWMA Control Charts when the Covariance Matrix is estimated using Small Samples” presented in the Joint Statistical Meetings held in New York, New York (August 2002). 

“Robustness of Multivariate EWMA Control Charts when the Covariance Matrix is estimated using Small Samples” presented in the 2002 Spring Research Conference on Statistics in Industry and Technology held in Ann Arbor, Michigan (May 2002).

Presented a paper in the Joint Statistical Meetings held in Atlanta, Georgia (August 2001).