About

Daniel J Eck is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Illinois. He earned his PhD in Statistics from the University of Minnesota in 2017 and holds a BS in Mathematics from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, obtained in 2009. His research interests span a diverse range of topics including sports analytics, history, evolutionary biology, and economics. Eck focuses primarily on methods development motivated by scientific and social scientific collaborations, aiming to address complex problems through statistical innovation. He encourages graduate students in statistics at UIUC to engage with him for research opportunities, reflecting his active involvement in mentoring and collaborative research. Eck's work integrates methodological advancements with applied projects, demonstrating a commitment to both theoretical and practical aspects of statistics.

Research topics

• Immunology
• Medicine
• Chemistry
• Radiochemistry
• Intensive care medicine
• Nuclear physics
• Physics
• Internal medicine

Selected publications

• Comparing baseball players across eras via novel Full House Modeling

  The Annals of Applied Statistics · 2025-05-28

  articleSenior author

  A new methodological framework suitable for era-adjusting baseball statistics is developed in this article. Within this methodological framework specific models are motivated. We call these models Full House Models. Full House Models work by balancing the achievements of Major League Baseball (MLB) players within a given season and the size of the MLB talent pool from which a player came. We demonstrate the utility of Full House Models in an application of comparing baseball players’ performance statistics across eras. Our results reveal a new ranking of baseball’s greatest players which include several modern players among the top all-time players. Modern players are elevated by Full House Modeling because they come from a larger talent pool. We present sensitivity and multiverse analyses to examine how changes in modeling inputs, including the estimate of the talent pool, affect the results.

  PublisherDOI

• Performance of 9 to 15 MV Computed Tomography of large objects in industrial and nuclear field

  e-Journal of Nondestructive Testing · 2025-06-24

  articleOpen access

  As part of its R&D programs on large objects characterization, the Nuclear Measurement Laboratory at the CEA-Cadarache center has equipped its high-energy tomograph with a new linear accelerator (linac): a VAREX K15 (9 to 15 MV range). This linac delivers a very high dose rate: up to 130 Gy/min at 1 m from the target. Combined with a mechanical bench and optimized detectors, this X-ray source allows handling very large objects for radiographies and tomographies, up to 1600 mm in diameter and 5 t in mass [1]. Compared with the kilovoltage range, MV energies offer two advantages: higher photon flux and deeper penetration capabilities (steel from 100 to 400 mm). The new X-ray source has been fully characterized in terms of dose rate, focal spot size and photon spectrum using water attenuation measurements. Depending on the geometry of the object to be scanned, two detectors can be used. The first is dedicated to larger objects and is a lens-based detector with different scintillator screens (Gadox or CsI, as described in [2]) specially designed for this configuration (with a screen size up to 800x600 mm2). The second, a commercial flat-panel with a small pixel pitch (0.1 mm) is used for the smallest but densest objects, where the spatial resolution is critical [3]. The performance of these detectors is characterized, compared and discussed. The tomograph set-up and its final performance at low (9 MV) and high (15 MV) energies are detailed in terms of MTF curves, and contrast-over-noise ratio obtained on specific mock-ups. Examples of tomography on real objects (industrial packages produced by metal additive manufacturing or radioactive waste drums) are also presented. Finally, the main drawbacks in this energy range are listed and detailed: 1) the scattering background caused by the Compton effect, 2) the thickness of the scintillator, which must be optimized according to the spatial resolution or expected efficiency and 3) the size of the X-ray source (limited to 1.5 mm). To overcome these limitations, various studies are currently underway, and the expected solutions are presented and discussed.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• High-energy dual-energy computed tomography for the characterization of large and thick objects

  e-Journal of Nondestructive Testing · 2025-01-30

  articleOpen access

  Usual computed tomography (CT) systems provide information on the layout and nature of materials composing an object. However, this information is limited to the apparent linear attenuation μ of the materials. To reach a more precise and accurate description, in the form of the effective atomic number Zeff and the electronic density ρe, dual-energy imaging can be used. Conventional dual-energy computed tomograohy (DECT) techniques are: (a) pre-processing dual-energy data sets and performing conventional CT reconstruction [1], (b) reconstruct dual-energy data sets and analyse the ratio of obtained linear attenuation coefficients [2, 3] and (c) reconstruct data sets after a decomposition on a material basis [4-6]. While the second technique is relatively convenient to set-up, it is not completely energy-independent. The third technique has proven rather efficient; however, it raises the question of the choice of material base used for decomposition. When inspecting complex objects composed of a large number of differents materials, this choice can be crucial. Therfore, this work focuses on extending the first technique to high energies, as it does not require any assumptions on the materials to be detected and takes into account beam-hardening effects through the system spectral response.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Performances of TOMIS, a transportable LINAC-based X-ray tomograph

  e-Journal of Nondestructive Testing · 2025-06-24

  articleOpen access

  <em>Industrial X-ray imaging exams based on linear accelerators (LINAC), while being a powerful tool for the physical inspection of large and/or thick objects, are difficult to implement due to the important radiological constraints associated to the photon spectrum and the irradiation dose rate. Indeed, as most of the interrogating photons have an energy higher than 0.5 MeV, thick concrete shielding (>1 m) is usually required, and the investment cost of such bunkers can be prohibitive: an industrial 9 MV LINAC would typically need 4 m thick concrete in the beam axis and 1.5 m everywhere else. Moreover, in case of large objects, some of the pieces to be inspected cannot, or only with difficulty, be transported. This is particularly true in the nuclear waste management field [1]. To overcome these constraints, CEA led, since 2017, the development of a high-energy low dosimetry impact transportable tomograph: TOMIS. Developed as part of an investment supported by the French Government, TOMIS aims at providing a Non Destructive physical characterization of large-volume packages (diameter < 140 cm, height < 130 cm, mass < 5 t) with millimeter spatial resolution in less than an hour directly on their production/storage site. The innovation of TOMIS is to integrate in a standard truck container all the elements of the tomograph: - the X-ray source is an industrial LINAC (Varex M9) offering a dose rate close to 30 Gy/min at 1 meter from the target in the beam-axis; - the linear and collimated detector which ensures a high efficiency of detection over 150-cm width; - the lifting unit to handle large objects. The truck container also brings most of the mandatory shielding for photons (lead) and neutrons (polyethylene) in order to provide the user with a mobile and autonomous tomograph (see Figure 1). After 6 years of development, TOMIS was commissioned in December 2023 (see Figure 2). In this paper, we report on the radiography and tomography performances of TOMIS and compare them to those achieved in a fixed irradiation cell with several materials (stainless steel, concrete, etc) and objects of various size [2], [3]. Performances are detailed in terms of Modulation Transfer Function, contrast-over-noise ratio, limit of detection. TOMIS is scheduled to be used over the decades for industrial measurement campaigns on alpha bearing-nuclear waste packages.</em>

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Variation in relaxation of non‐photochemical quenching between the founder genotypes of the soybean ( <i>Glycine max</i> ) nested association mapping population

  The Plant Journal · 2025-01-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  SUMMARY Improving the efficiency of crop photosynthesis has the potential to increase yields. Genetic manipulation showed photosynthesis can be improved by speeding up the relaxation of photoprotective mechanisms during sun‐to‐shade transitions. However, it is unclear if natural variation in the relaxation of non‐photochemical quenching (NPQ) can be exploited in crop breeding programs. To address this issue, we measured six NPQ parameters in the 40 founder lines and common parent of a Soybean Nested Association Mapping (SoyNAM) panel over two field seasons in Illinois. Leaf disks were sampled from plants grown in the field, and induction and relaxation of NPQ were measured under controlled conditions. NPQ parameters did not show consistently variable trends throughout development, and variation between sampling days suggests environmental impacts on NPQ dynamics. Seventeen genotypes were found to show small but consistent differences in NPQ relaxation kinetics relative to a reference line, providing a basis for future mapping studies. Finally, a soybean canopy model predicted available phenotypic variation could result in a 1.6% difference in carbon assimilation when comparing the fastest and slowest relaxing NPQ values. No correlation could be found between yield and rates of NPQ relaxation, but a full test will require an analysis of isogenic lines.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Photon flux characterization of a new electron LINAC in the CINPHONIE irradiation facility

  EPJ Web of Conferences · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access

  Electron linear accelerators (LINACs) are versatile and powerful X-ray sources, that can be used in medical radiotherapy as well as in various industrial applications including non-destructive testing, imaging and security inspection. LINACs accelerate electrons by passing them through a series of oscillating electric fields within a vacuum tube. These high-energy electrons are then directed towards a metallic target, producing X-rays (bremsstrahlung radiation) when they decelerate upon impact. In the field of non-destructive radioactive waste characterization, high-energy photon imaging (radiography, tomography) is used on large cemented radiological waste containers, with a volume of the order of 1 m 3 , to check their integrity and assess their content [1][2]. However, for such packages, passive gamma-ray spectroscopy, passive neutron counting and even active neutron interrogation fail in measuring nuclear materials, like plutonium and uranium. Therefore, high-energy photon interrogation techniques is under study to detect and quantify nuclear materials through the detection of induced-photofission particles. For the past years, CEA has been developing high-energy imaging [3] and photon interrogation techniques in CINPHONIE irradiation bunker (CHICADE facility, CEA IRESNE, Cadarache, France). CINPHONIE was recently upgraded with a K15 Varex accelerator that can reach a maximum dose rate of 130 Gy/min at 1 m from the X-ray target [4]. For advanced techniques (high-energy photon and photoneutron activations, photofission, bi-energy imaging), it is paramount to simulate precisely the irradiation field. For that purpose, a numerical model of the LINAC internals was built (with MCNP 6.3). It aims at simulating photon and neutron fields in view to calculate dose rates and reaction rates in irradiation samples, waste packages, but also in the whole casemate. A thorough characterization campaign was carried out to validate and calibrate this MCNP model against various experiments, including dose rate measurements in a water tank and delayed gamma-ray spectroscopy of thin metal foils activated in the X-ray field. These experimental results were used to fine-tune the electron source energy distribution as well as to estimate the average beam current. Its high-energy part is indeed particularly crucial for photofission and bi-energy studies.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Variation in relaxation of non-photochemical quenching between the founder genotypes of the soybean (Glycine max) nested association mapping population

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2024-06-03

  preprintOpen access

  Summary Improving the efficiency of crop photosynthesis has the potential to increase yields. Genetic manipulation showed photosynthesis can be improved by speeding up relaxation of photoprotective mechanisms during sun to shade transitions. However, it is unclear if natural variation in relaxation of non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) can be exploited in crop breeding programs. To address this issue, we measured six NPQ parameters in the 40 founder lines and common parent of a Soybean Nested Association Mapping (SoyNAM) panel over two field seasons in Illinois. NPQ parameters did not show consistently variable trends throughout development, and variation between sampling days suggests environmental impacts on NPQ which last more than 24 hours. 17 genotypes were found to show small but consistent differences in NPQ relaxation kinetics relative to a reference line providing a basis for future mapping studies. Finally, a soybean canopy model predicted available phenotypic variation could result in a 1.6% difference in carbon assimilation when comparing fastest and slowest relaxing NPQ values. Significance Statement Evidence suggests increasing the rate of relaxation of photoprotection can lead to improved biomass and yield. We compare photoprotection relaxation rates in 41 diverse soybean genotypes grown in the field, identifying lines with faster rates of relaxation, and predict a potential 1.6% difference in daily carbon assimilation which could contribute to improving soybean performance.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Volatility Forecasting Using Similarity-based Parameter Correction and Aggregated Shock Information

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2024-06-13 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  We develop a procedure for forecasting the volatility of a time series immediately following a news shock. Adapting the similarity-based framework of Lin and Eck (2020), we exploit series that have experienced similar shocks. We aggregate their shock-induced excess volatilities by positing the shocks to be affine functions of exogenous covariates. The volatility shocks are modeled as random effects and estimated as fixed effects. The aggregation of these estimates is done in service of adjusting the $h$-step-ahead GARCH forecast of the time series under study by an additive term. The adjusted and unadjusted forecasts are evaluated using the unobservable but easily-estimated realized volatility (RV). A real-world application is provided, as are simulation results suggesting the conditions and hyperparameters under which our method thrives.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Data and analyses for: Fire effects on plant reproductive fitness vary among individuals reflecting pollination-dependent mechanisms

  Figshare · 2023-01-01

  datasetOpen access

  Here are the analyses and data for the manuscript: <strong>"Fire effects on plant reproductive fitness vary among individuals reflecting pollination-dependent mechanisms" published in </strong><em><strong>American Journal of Botany</strong></em> <strong>Data Files:</strong> These ascii comma-separated-values files contain data for each study species. <strong>echinacea.csv</strong> contains data 350 <em>Echinacea angustifolia </em>individuals observed across 1996-2016, fields include: <strong>year:</strong><em> </em>year the observations were taken (numeric) <strong>unit:</strong><em> </em>west or east, indicates the placement of each individual plant in either the east or west management unit of the prairie preserve. (character) <strong>burn: </strong>burn status = 0 if no burn occurred in that year, = 1 if a burn occurred (binary) <strong>synchrony:</strong><em> </em>Augspurger's 1983 index of individual flowering synchrony ranges from 0 to 1 with 0 indicating total asynchrony of flowering time with all other flowering individuals in the mating scene and 1 indicating total synchrony with all other flowering individuals in the mating scene (numeric) <strong>hdCt:</strong><em> </em>count of flowering heads per individual plant (numeric) <strong>hdAcheneCt:</strong><em> </em>count of fruits per flowering head (numeric) <strong>seedSetSampleCt:</strong><em> </em>count of randomly sampled fruits to be x-rayed (numeric) <strong>seedSetSampleFull:</strong><em> </em>count of full fruits from x-ray images of a random sample of achenes from each individual plant (numeric) <strong>fl: </strong>flowering status, the entire column = 1 because every individual in the dataset flowered <br> <strong>liatris.csv </strong>and<strong> solidago.csv </strong> contain data 223 <em>Liatris aspera </em>individuals and 231 <em>Solidago speciosa </em>individuals, respectively, observed across 2016-2018. Fields include: <strong>year:</strong><em> </em>year the observations were taken (numeric) <strong>unit: </strong>west or east, indicates the placement of each individual plant in either the east or west management unit of the prairie preserve. (character) <strong>burn:</strong><em> </em>burn status = 0 if no burn occurred in that year, = 1 if a burn occurred (binary) <strong>sync:</strong><em> </em>Augspurger's 1983 index of individual flowering synchrony ranges from 0 to 1 with 0 indicating total asynchrony of flowering time with all other flowering individuals in the mating scene and 1 indicating total synchrony with all other flowering individuals in the mating scene (numeric) <strong>stemCt: </strong>count of flowering stems per individual plant (numeric) <strong>hdCt: </strong>count of flowering heads per individual plant (numeric) <strong>hdAcheneCt: </strong>count of fruits per individual plant (numeric) <strong>seedSetSampleCt:</strong><em> </em>count of randomly sampled fruits to be x-rayed (numeric) <strong>seedSetSampleFull: </strong>count of full achenes from x-ray images of a random sample of achenes from each individual plant. Counts were obtained from randomized x-ray images that were counted twice and the average was taken of the two counts, hence some counts are not perfect integers (numeric) <strong>root: </strong>flowering status, the entire column = 1 because every individual in the dataset flowered <strong>Analysis Files:</strong> These files are knitted PDFs from R scripts that together produce all analyses including information for tables and drafts of figures included in the manuscript. Figure 1 in the manuscript is a conceptual figure generated using Adobe Illustrator. These analyses were generated using R version 4.2.1 and load the following packages: aster: Geyer CJ (2021). _aster: Aster Models_. R package version 1.1-2, https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=aster. tidyverse: Wickham H, Averick M, Bryan J, Chang W, McGowan LD, François R, Grolemund G, Hayes A, Henry L, Hester J, Kuhn M, Pedersen TL, Miller E, Bache SM, Müller K, Ooms J, Robinson D, Seidel DP, Spinu V, Takahashi K, Vaughan D, Wilke C, Woo K, Yutani H (2019). “Welcome to the tidyverse.” _Journal of Open Source Software_, *4*(43), 1686. doi:10.21105/joss.01686. R package version 1.3.2. <strong>echinaceaAnalysis.pdf </strong>reads in echinacea.csv and models full dataset from 1996-2016. <strong>liatris2018AnalysisModelSelection.pdf </strong>reads in liatris.csv and models 2018 data. The best model from 2018 is selected in this script and then applied to the 2016 and 2017 data in the file liatris2016_2017Analysis.pdf. <strong> </strong> <strong>liatris2016_2017Analysis.pdf </strong>reads in liatris.csv and generates &gt;250 datasets with simulated values of fruit counts in 2016 and 2017. It then applies the 'best' model selected in liatris2018AnalysisModelSelection.pdf to these simulated datasets. <strong>solidago2018AnalysisModelSelection.pdf </strong>reads in solidago.csv and models 2018 data. The best model from 2018 is selected in this script and then applied to the 2016 and 2017 data in the file solidago2016_2017Analysis.pdf. <strong> </strong> <strong>solidago2016_2017Analysis.pdf </strong>reads in solidago.csv and generates 250 datasets with simulated values of fruit counts in 2016 and 2017. It then applies the 'best' model selected in solidago2018AnalysisModelSelection.pdf to these simulated datasets. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br>

  PublisherDOI

• Fire effects on plant reproductive fitness vary among individuals, reflecting pollination‐dependent mechanisms

  American Journal of Botany · 2023-03-21 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  PREMISE: Fire induces flowering in many plant species worldwide, potentially improving reproductive fitness via greater availability of resources, as evident by flowering effort, and improved pollination outcomes, as evident by seed set. Postfire increases in flowering synchrony, and thus mating opportunities, may improve pollination. However, few studies evaluate fire effects on multiple components of fitness. Consequently, the magnitude and mechanism of fire effects on reproductive fitness remain unclear. METHODS: Over multiple years and prescribed burns in a prairie preserve, we counted flowering stems, flowers, fruits, and seeds of three prairie perennials, Echinacea angustifolia, Liatris aspera, and Solidago speciosa. We used aster life-history models to assess how fire and mating opportunities influenced annual maternal fitness and its components in individual plants. RESULTS: In Echinacea and Liatris, but not in Solidago, fire increased head counts, and both fire and mating opportunities increased maternal fitness. Burned Echinacea and Liatris plants with many flower heads produced many seeds despite low seed set (fertilization rates). In contrast, plants with an average number of flower heads had high seed set and produced many seeds only when mating opportunities were abundant. CONCLUSIONS: Fire increased annual reproductive fitness via resource- and pollination-dependent mechanisms in Echinacea and Liatris but did not affect Solidago fitness. The consistent relationship between synchrony and seed set implies that temporal mating opportunities play an important role in pollination. While fire promotes flowering in many plant species, our results reveal that even closely related species exhibit differential responses to fire, which could impact the broader plant community.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• E. Payan

  Laboratoire de Mesure du Carbone 14

  75 shared

• N. Estre

  Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives

  73 shared

• David Tisseur

  Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives

  47 shared

• E. Simon

  Hofstra University

  25 shared

• Forrest W. Crawford

  22 shared

• Alix Sardet

  CEA Cadarache

  18 shared

• L. Tamagno

  Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives

  17 shared

• B. Pérot

  Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives

  17 shared

Education

• PhD, Statistics

  University of Minnesota Twin Cities

  2017