Dr. Kobi Abayomi will join the faculty of Georgia Tech's H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering as an assistant professor starting 1 July 2008.

Dr. Abayomi received his B.S. majoring in public policy and industrial engineering from Georgia Tech in 2000. He received a M.A. in statistics in 2002, a M.Phil in statistics in 2007, and a Ph.D. in probability and statistics in 2007, all from Columbia University.

Prior to returning to Tech as a professor, Dr. Abayomi was a visiting professor at Duke University and Postdoctoral Fellow at Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI). He also has been a research associate at the Center for Integrating Statistical and Environmental Science (CISES) at the University of Chicago and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Dr. Abayomi's research interests are in multivariate and extreme value dependence, environmental economics, and environmental statistics. His research interest in environmental projects began when he was an undergraduate at Georgia Tech and continues today. He defines the term environmental in the broadest sense, in that, he is concerned with both physical and social ecology. He partitions his work between applied and theoretical * "realizing that applied research is partially theoretical, partially demonstrative, and partially prescriptive.*

In discussing his teaching objectives,Abayomi quoted Maria Montessori saying that his "goal as a professor is to encourage the 'revolution of the individual,' and to develop in his students an efficient self-determination, a motivation, and an active presence.

Dr. Abayomi is the proud uncle of Ariana Abayomi, and Mason and Marley Rogers, and brother of Anika, Abena, Assata, Kwame and Anaje - all fellow Atlantans. He is engaged to Vivianne Guevara, a social worker at the Bronx Defenders.