Biography and education
Dr. Sun received her Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Toronto in Canada. She is currently a professor in the Department of Mathematics, Texas State University. She has interests in statistical genetics and bioinformatics and has published > 30 peer-reviewed research articles in high-impact journals. Dr. Sun and her students have been addressing challenging genetic and epigenetic questions using statistical and computational tools with a focus on cancer methylation data analysis. She has also been developing statistical methodologies and software packages for bioinformatic problems using Bayesian methods, hidden Markov models, Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms, and linear models.
Teaching Interests
Research Interests
Featured grants
- Yang, Yong (Principal), Keller, Thomas M (Co-Principal), Sun, Shuying (Supporting), Dochtermann, Anton (Supporting), Oh, Suho (Supporting), Shen, Xiaoxi (Supporting), Xiao, Jun (Supporting). REU Site: Algebra, Combinatorics, and Statistics, NSF, Federal, $271568. (Submitted: August 2024, Funded: April 1, 2025 - March 28, 2028). Grant.
- Yang, Yong (Principal), Keller, Thomas M (Co-Principal), Sun, Shuying (Supporting), Zhao, Qiang (Supporting), Dochtermann, Anton (Supporting), Oh, Suho (Supporting). REU Site: Algebra, Combinatorics, and Statistics, NSF, Federal, $305417. (Submitted: August 2021, Funded: March 1, 2022 - February 28, 2026). Grant.
- Sun, Shuying (Supporting), Whitten, Steven T (Principal), Lewis, Karen A (Principal), Libich, David S (Co-Principal), Oyojobi, Babatunde O (Co-Principal). NIH T32 training grant (T32GM154636) - Texas Doctoral Bridge Program., NIH, Federal, $2836154. (Submitted: September 26, 2023, Funded: August 1, 2024 - July 31, 2029). Grant.
- Sun, Shuying (Principal). Texas State University Research Enhancement Program (REP) Award (2023), Texas State University, $8000. (Submitted: October 2022, Funded: January 1, 2023 - May 31, 2024). Grant.
- Sun, Shuying (Supporting), Hunter, Stacy (Principal). NIH-R21 Yoga & Hypertension: Effects of Practice Temperature on Mechanistic Outcomes, Federal, $408493. (Funded: December 1, 2021 - November 30, 2023). Grant.

Featured scholarly/creative works
- Ward, M., Eloff, N., & Sun, S. (2025). Comparative Analysis of Six Correlation Metrics on Identifying DNA Co-Methylation Patterns. Submitted to Journal of Statistical Theory and Practice in 09/2025.
- Sun, S., Pandit, J., Peng, B., Zane, J., & Zhong, A. (2025). Housekeeping Genes’ DNA Methylation Patterns in Breast and Endometrial Cancers. Submitted to Statistics in Biosciences in 07/2025.
- Sun, S., Pritchard, A., McFall, E., & Tian, C. (2025). Statistical analysis of DNA methylation patterns of tumor suppressor genes in breast cancer. Epigenetics Insights, 18(1). Retrieved from https://www.maxapress.com/article/id/67fc62abfa6c5866a7a9383b
- Sun, S., & Zamora, R. (2024, December). Mcperturb (software package): https://github.com/ss355/mcperturb.
- Sun, S., & Zamora, R. (2024). Mcperturb: A New 5‑step Multicollinearity Diagnostic Method Developed Based on Existing Methods. Statistics in Biosciences.
Featured awards
- Award / Honor Recipient: Research Excellence Award, Department of Mathematics, Texas State University, Texas State University. December 6, 2019
- Award / Honor Recipient: Presidential Distinction Award for Excellence in Teaching, Texas State University. August 2017
- Award / Honor Recipient: Named/recognized by 3 undergraduate students as a person at Texas State University who made a contribution to their academic career (in 2015, 2016, and 2019). 2015 - Present
- Award / Honor Recipient: Research Enhancement Program Award (2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2023), Texas State University. January 1, 2014 - May 31, 2024
- Award / Honor Recipient: Service Excellence Award, Department of Mathematics, Texas State University (12/2022), Texas State University. December 2, 2022

Featured service activities
- Member
Served in the hiring committee for a data science faculty position
- University Mentor
Served as a mentor for the following tenure-track faculty: Xiaoxi Shen
- Member
The scheduling oversight committee
- Member
Served in the math department Ph.D and Graduate Committee, 08/2018 – 05/2019, 09/2020 – 05/2021, and 09/2025- present.
- University Mentor
Served as a teaching mentor for the following graduate students: Ashraf Demian (09/2017 – 05/2018), Robert Zhan (09/2020 – 05/2021), Emet Bethany (09/2021 – 12/2021), Holly Tidwell (01/2023 -07/2025), and Laura Amwata (08/2025 – present)
- Graduate Advisor
Led the statistics program by serving as a graduate advisor for the Math MS Statistics Concentration since Mar 2017