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Simon Nik

Instructional Assistant Professor

Email icon simon.nik@kaust.edu.sa
“What we know is a drop; what we don’t know is an ocean.”
— Issac Newton

Biography

Simon Nik is an Instructional Assistant Professor of Statistics in the Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) Division at KAUST. His research lies at the intersection of time-series analysis, stochastic modeling, and statistical methodology. He develops statistical methods for discrete and nonnegative data and studies complex systems involving uncertainty and dependence.

Dr. Nik joined KAUST in December 2024 as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Extreme Statistics (XSTAT) research group. Before joining KAUST, he was a scientific employee at Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg, Germany, where he completed his doctorate in Mathematics and Statistics in 2024. His dissertation focused on the stochastic modeling and statistical analysis of nonnegative data and time series.

Alongside his research, Dr. Nik has 14 years of teaching experience in mathematics and statistics.

Research Interests

Professor Nik’s research focuses on stochastic modeling and statistical inference for discrete and nonnegative data, with a particular emphasis on discrete time series. His more recent research interests include dynamical systems and their applications to financial markets and coral-reef dynamics.
Keyword tag icon
discrete time series Dynamical Systems

Education Profile

  • Doctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.)
    Mathematics and Statistics, Helmut-Schmidt-University (HSU), Germany, 2024
  • Master of Science (M.S.)
    Mathematics, Leibniz University Hannover (LUH), Germany, 2019
  • Bachelor of Science (B.S.)
    Mathematics, Leibniz University Hannover (LUH), Germany, 2013

Publications

  • Blackwood, J. C., Nik, K., and Nik, S. (2026). Dynamics of coral–macroalgae interactions under crowding. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 23(9), 2581–2612.
  • Nik, S., and Weiß, C. H. (2024). Generalized Moment Estimators Based on Stein Identities. Journal of Statistical Theory and Applications, 23, 240–274.
  • Aleksandrov, B., Weiß, C. H., Nik, S., Faymonville, M., and Jentsch, C. (2023). Modelling and Diagnostic Tests for Poisson and Negative-Binomial Count Time Series. Metrika, 87, 843–887.