Welcome!

My name is Aaron Nielsen, and I'm an Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics at Colorado State University, specializing in undergraduate education and sports analytics.

I completed a B.A. in Philosophy at CSU in May 2024. Here is an article about my philosophy studies.

I am running CSU Statistics Book Club during Spring 2025. We are reading Fortune's Formula by William Poundstone. For more information, see the book club website.

Teaching Schedule Fall 2025

• STAT 201 (General Statistics): Tues 3:20-5:00pm
• STAT 204 (Business Statistics): Tues 11:00-12:50pm
• STAT 495 (Indpendent Study in Sports Analytics)

Recent Projects

• College Football Players' Path to the Draft: I advised Chandler Grote on an undergraduate summer research project with the Colorado State University football team.
• Informing Tactical Periodization in Collegiate Football: I advised Gabe Macklem on an undergraduate summer research project with the University of Nebraska football team.
• A Statistical Analysis of Philosophers on Philosophy: I advised an undergraduate research project by Jake Shankles that created a Shiny app to visualize the 2020 PhilPapers survey.
• Analyzing College Softball Rapsodo Tracking Data: Pitching Analytics (by Danielle Contreras) and Hitting Analytics (by Aidan Feeley). We attended the Society of American Baseball Research Analytics Conference 2024.

Courses Developed

• STAT 351 / Sports Statistics and Analytics I / Fall: Syllabus
• STAT 451 / Sports Statistics and Analytics II / Spring: Syllabus

Undergraduate Certificate

I coordinated the creation of a new undergraduate certificate in Sports Statistics and Analytics that is now available.

Feel free to email me for more information about my courses, research interests, or other inquiries.