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Department of Statistics
Shannon Neeley-Tass

Research

My research lies at the intersection of environmental and spatial statistics, mental health applications, and data science, with a strong emphasis on real-world, applied problems. I work on statistical methods for analyzing complex data, including spatial and environmental processes, text data, and computational health science. My interests extend to teaching and advancing data science education, ensuring that statistical methods are both accessible and impactful. Much of my work is interdisciplinary, collaborating with experts across fields to develop data-driven solutions for pressing challenges in public health, environmental science, and beyond.

Current CV

Publications

  • Low E, Monsen J, Schow L, Roberts R, Collins L, Johnson J, Hanson CL, Snell Q, Tass ES. (2025). Predicting bullying victimization among adolescents using the risk and protective factor framework: A large-scale machine learning approach. BMC Public Health. 25, 321. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21521-0
  • Cox JC, Tass ESN, Frandsen C, Vogeler HA, and Gabrielsen T, Orton A, Probst R, McKinnon KK, Heath J, Higham M, Preator B. (2023-preprint). What do the Records Say: Autism Spectrum Disorder and Higher Education. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4431503 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4431503
  • Ke SY, Neeley-Tass ES, Barnes M, Hanson CL, Giraud-Carrier C, Snell Q. (2022). COVID-19 Health Beliefs Regarding Mask Wearing and Vaccinations on Twitter: Deep Learning Approach. JMIR Infodemiology. 2022 Oct 31;2(2):e37861. doi: 10.2196/37861. PMID: 36348979; PMCID: PMC9631942.
  • Cox JC, Neeley-Tass ES (2022). Psychotherapy Outcome for College Students with ASD and other Disabilities in a National Sample: Replication, Refinement, and Extension. Penn State Student Affairs Center for Collegiate Mental Health.. April 2022.
  • Weller O, Sagers L, Hanson C, Barnes M, Tass ES. (2021). Predicting suicidal thoughts and behavior among adolescents using the risk and protective factor framework: A large scale machine learning approach. \textit{PloS One}. 2021 Nov 3;16(11):e0258535.doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258535.
  • Merrill BM, Vogeler H, Kirchhoefer J, Tass S, Erekson D, Beecher M, Wothen V, Hobbs K, Boardman RD, Bingham J, Bailey RJ, Cox JC, Carney DM, Kilcullen JR, Griner D. (2021). Trump, Obama, Bush: Impacts of Presidential Elections on College Student Mental Health. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy. 1-18. doi:10.1080/87568225.2021.1888216.
  • Weller O, Hildebrandt J, Ilya R, Challis C, Tass ES, Snell Q, Seppi K. (2020). You Don't Have Time to Read This: An Exploration of Document Reading Time Prediction. Proceedings of the 58th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics}. 1789--1794. doi: 10.18653/v1/2020.acl-main.162
  • Guerrero-Arguero I, Hoj TR, Tass ES, Berges BK, Robison RA. (2020). A comparison of Chikungunya virus infection, progression, and cytokine profiles in human PMA-differentiated U937 and murine RAW264. 7 monocyte derived macrophages. \textit{PloS One}. 2020 Mar 12;15(3):e0230328.
  • Erekson DM, Clayson R, Park SY, Tass ES. (2018). Therapist effects on early change in psychotherapy in a naturalistic setting, Psychotherapy Research, DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2018.1556824
  • White PA, Berrett C, Neeley-Tass ES, Findley MG. (2018). Modeling efficiency of foreign aid allocation in Malawi. The American Statistician, DOI: 10.1080/00031305.2018.1470032
  • Gibson KE, Heaton MJ, Neeley Tass ES. (2017). Identifying crash risk factors and high risk locations on an interstate network. Statistical Modelling. DOI: 10.1177/1471082X17722072
  • Ahern AA, Radebaugh J, Christiansen EH, Harris RA, Tass ES. (2017). Lineations and structural mapping of Io's patarae and mountains: Implications for internal stresses. Icarus. 297:14-32.
  • Anderberg E, Cox JC, Neeley Tass ES, Erekson DM, Gabrielsen TP, Warren JS, Cline J, Petersen D, South M. (2017). Sticking with it: Psychotherapy Outcomes for adults with autism spectrum disorder in a university counseling center setting. Autism Research. 10(12):2048--2055.
  • Lundwall RA, Stephenson KG, Neeley-Tass ES, Cox JC, South M, Bigler ED, Anderberg E, Prigge MD, Hansen BD, Lainhart JE, Kellems RO. (2016). Relationship between brain stem volume and aggression in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. \textit{Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders}. 2016 Dec 9.
  • Jensen JL, Neeley S, Hatch JB, Piorczynski T. (2015). Learning Scientific Reasoning Skills May Be Key to Retention in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice. October 28, 2015, 1521025115611616, doi: 10.1177/1521025115611616
  • Ruvolo PP, Qiu Y, Coombes KR, Zhang N, Neeley ES, Ruvolo VR, Hail N Jr, Borthakur G, Konopleva M, Andreeff M, Kornblau SM. (2015) Phosphorylation of GSK3 correlates with activation of AKT and is prognostic for poor overall survival in acute myeloid leukemia patients. BBA Clinical. 4:59-68. doi: 10.1016/j.bbacli.2015.07.001
  • Neeley ES, Christensen WF, Sain SR (2013). A Bayesian Spatial Factor Analysis Approach for Combining Climate Model Ensembles. Environmetrics. 25(7):483-497.
  • Prigge MB, Lange N, Bigler ED, Merkley TL, Neeley ES, Abildskov TJ, Froehlich AL, Nielsen JA, Cooperrider JR, Cariello AN, Ravichandran C, Alexander AL, Lainhart JE. (2013) Corpus Callosum area in children and adults with autism. Res Autism Spectr Disord. 7(2):221-234.
  • West J, Hall P, Hanson C, Prier, K, Giraud-Carrier C, Neeley ES, Barnes M. (2012) Temporal variability of problem drinking on Twitter. textitOpen Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2, 43-48. doi: 10.4236/ojpm.2012.210
  • Neeley ES, Kornbalu SM, Baggery KA. (2011). Surface adjustment of reverse phase protein arrays using positive control spots. Cancer Informatics. 11:77-86.
  • Heltemes-Harris LM, Willette MJ, Ramsey LB, Qiu YH, Neeley ES, Zhang N, Thomas DA, Koeuth T, Baechler EC, Kornblau SM, Farrar MA. (2011). Ebf1 or Pax5 haploinsufficiency synergizes with STAT5 activation to initiate acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Journal of Experimental Medicine. 208(6):1135-1149.
  • Tate DF, Khedraki R, Neeley ES, Ryser D, Bigler ED. (2011). Cerebral volume loss, cognitive deficit and neuropsychological performance: Comparative measures of brain atrophy II: Traumatic brain injury. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. 17(2):308-316.
  • Tate DF, Neeley ES, Norton MC, Tschanz JT, Miller MJ, Wolfson L, Hulette C, Leslie C, Welsh-Bohmer KA, Plassman B, Bigler ED. (2011). Intracranial volume and dementia: Some evidence in support of the cerebral reserve hypothesis. Brain Research. 1385:151-162.
  • Ghia AJ, Neeley ES, Gaffney DK. (2010). Postoperative radiotherapy use and patterns of care analysis for node positive or parametria positive cervical cancer. Gynecologic Oncology. 119(3):411-416.
  • Brown AP, Neeley ES, Werner T, Soisson AP, Burt RW, Gaffney DK. (2010). A population-based study of subsequent primary malignancies after endometrial cancer: Genetic, environmental, and treatment-related associations. International Journal of Radiation Oncology∗Biology∗Physics. 78(1):127-135.
  • Trusov A, Bumgarner R, Valijev R, Chestnova R, Talevski S, Vragoterova C, Neeley ES. (2009). Comparison of Lumin LED fluorescent attachment, fluorescent microscopy and Ziehl-Neelsen for AFB diagnosis. The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 13(7):836-841.
  • Poland KS, Shardy DL, Azim M, Naeem R, Krance RA, Dreyer ZE, Neeley ES, Zhang N, Qiu YH, Kornblau SM, Plon SE. (2009). Overexpression of ZNF342 by juxtaposition with MPO promoter/enhancer in the novel translocation t(17;19)(q23;q13.32) in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia and analysis of ZNF342 expression in leukemia. Genes, Chromosomes, and Cancer, 48(6):480-489.
  • Neeley ES, Kornblau SM, Coombes KR, Baggery KA. (2009). Variable slope normalization of reverse phase protein arrays. Bioinformatics, 25(11):1384-1389.
  • Baggerly KA, Coombes KR, Neeley ES. (2008). Run batch effects potentially compromise the usefulness of genomic signatures for ovarian cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology,26(7):1187-1188.
  • Bigler ED, Mortensen S, Neeley ES, Ozonoff S, Krasny L, Johnson M, Lu J, Provencal SL, McMahon W, Lainhart JE. (2007). Superior temporal gyrus, language function, and autism. Developmental Neuropsychology, 31(2):217-238.
  • Neeley ES, Bigler ED, Krasny L, Ozonoff S, McMahon W, Lainhart JE. (2007). Quantitative temporal lobe difference: autism distinguished from controls using classification and regression tree analysis. Brain Development, 29(7):389-399.
  • Bigler ED, Neeley ES, Miller MJ, Tate DF, Rice SA, Cleavinger H, Wolfson L, Tschanz J, Welsh-Bohmer K. (2004). Cerebral volume loss, cognitive deficit and neuropsychological performance: comparative measures of brain atrophy: I. Dementia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 10(3):442-452.
  • Bigler ED, Tate DF, Neeley ES, Wolfson LJ, Miller MJ, Rice SA, Cleavinger H, Anderson C, Coon H, Ozonoff S, Johnson M, Dinh E, Lu J, Mc Mahon W, Lainhart JE. (2003). Temporal lobe, autism, and macrocephaly. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 24(10):2066-2076.