http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/stat/news.html Statistical Science News en-us Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:16:21 EST Duke University Faculty Database System 2000-01-01T00:00:00-0500 2 hourly http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-5135 <p>In January, Alan Gelfand delivered the 15th P. C. Mahalanobis Memorial Lectures – seven lectures over two weeks in three cities (Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru). These lectures honor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, founder of the <a href="http://www.isical.ac.in/">Indian Statistical Institute</a> and pioneering contributor to statistical theory and methodology in sample survey work and in multivariate analysis. Previous winners include Samuel Karlin, Sir David Cox, Peter Hall, and Jim Berger.</p> </p>Dr. Gelfand also presented the Presidenti al Invited Lecture at the 22nd annual meeting of <a href="http://www.environmetrics.org/">The International Environmetrics Society</a> (TIES2012) in Hyderabad.</p> Lance A Brown Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:16:21 EST Dr. Alan Gelfand delivers 15th P. C. Mahalanobis Memorial Lectures http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-4916 <p> Faculty from the Duke Departments of <a href="http://stat.duke.edu/">Statistical Science</a>, <a href="http://econ.duke.edu/">Economics</a> and <a href="http://polisci.duke.edu/">Political Science</a> in collaboration with <a href="NISS">NISS</a> have been awarded a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation (in partnership with the US Census Bureau) to improve the way that federal statistical agencies analyze and disseminate economic and demographic data to the public. Investigators from Statistical Science include Jerry Reiter (PI), David Dunson, and Fan Li. The team will use the award to create the <a href="http://sites.duke.edu/tcrn/">Triangle Census Research Network (TCRN)</a>, one of eight such networks across the country. The TCRN will develop cutting edge statistical methodologies to help statistical agencies (i) release data that maintain subjects' confidentiality while still enabling valid inference, (ii) handle missing and faulty values, and (iii) combine information across sources. The team will apply methodologies to high profile Census Bureau datasets, thereby improving analyses for hundreds of other researchers.</p> <p>There are multiple opportunities for graduate students, both PhD and Masters, to be a part of the TCRN research. Interested students should contact <a href="http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/stat/faculty/jerome.reiter">Jerry Reiter</a>.</p> Lance A Brown Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:16:06 EDT NSF Awards $3 Million To Triangle Scientists To Improve Federal Data http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-4694 <p>Statistical Science PhD student Jouchi Nakajima is the recipient of the 2010/2011 BEST Award for his research on "Bayesian Dynamic Factor Models: Latent Threshold Approach".</p> <p>Statistical Science undergraduate student Derrick Hang received an honorable mention for his research on "High-Frequency Bayesian Modeling and Analysis of Stochastic Volatility in Finance ".</p> <p>For full details, pictures and papers, visit the <a href="http://www.stat.duke.edu/research/BEST/BEST2010-11/BESToftheBEST2010-11.html">BEST 2010-11 page</a>.</p> <p>And see details of the BEST Award past, present and future at <a href="http://www.stat.duke.edu/research/BEST/">http://www.stat.duke.edu/research/BEST/</a>.</p> Lance A Brown Thu, 19 May 2011 13:53:48 EDT BEST Award for Student Research 2010/11 http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-4586 <p>LOCATION: <b><i>Von Canon A (Bryan Center)</i></b><p> 12:00pm <b>Luncheon and Cocktails</b><p> 12:20 pm <b>Welcome</b> <br> Professor Alan Gelfand - Department Chair <p> 12:40 pm <b>Presentation of Bachelor’s Degrees</b> <br>Professor Dalene Stangl - Director of Undergraduate Studies <p> 1:00 pm <b>Presentation of Masters & PhD Degrees</b><br>Professor Mike West - Director of Graduate Studies <p> 1:20 pm <b>Presentation of BEST Award </b><p/> Karen C Herndon Wed, 11 May 2011 11:25:01 EDT Departmental Graduation Reception http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-4545 Dr. Jerry Reiter has been elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association. The official awards ceremony will take place at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Miami Beach in August. Lance A Brown Mon, 09 May 2011 11:28:44 EDT Faculty News http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-4540 This year's award announcement and ceremony will be during the Statistical Science departmental graduation reception on May 15th. See the <a href="http://www.stat.duke.edu/research/BEST/BEST2010-11/BESTreception2010-11.pdf">BEST award flyer with full details.</a> Lance A Brown Thu, 05 May 2011 15:35:13 EDT The 2010/2011 BEST Award http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-4259 <p>The Department of Statistical Science is delighted to announce Dr. Jim Berger is the 2011 recipient of the Rao Prize. The C. R. and Bhargavi Rao Prize was established to honor and recognize outstanding and influential innovations in the theory and practice of mathematical statistics, international leadership in directing statistical research, and pioneering contributions by a recognized leader in the field of statistics. The Rao Prize is awarded by the Department of Statistics at Penn State University to a nominee selected by the members of the Rao Prize Committee.</p> <p>Previous winners are Brad Efron, Jayaram Sethuraman, Larry Brown, and Peter Bickel.</p> Lance A Brown Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:21:20 EST Dr. Jim Berger awarded the 2011 Rao Prize http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-4161 <p> <a href="http://www.mi.imati.cnr.it/~fabrizio/"> Fabrizio Ruggeri </a> (Stat Sci PhD 1994), currently Research Director of CNR-IMATI in Milan, Italy (Italy's leading national research center for mathematical sciences and its applications), Thu, 18 Nov 2010 11:25:21 EST Fabrizio Ruggeri elected as ISBA President, Hedibert Lopes elected as ISBA Treasurer http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-4162 The departments of Statistical Science and Mathematics are inviting applications for a Postdoctoral Associate to work on inference of network controls. Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:02:11 EST Postdoctoral Research Associate (RA) in Statistical Science http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-4017 <p>The Department of Statistical Science at Duke University is proud to announce that David Dunson, a professor in our group, is the recipient of the 2010 COPSS Award. The COPSS Presidents' Award is given annually by the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies to a person under the age of 40, in recognition of outstanding contributions to the profession of statistics. It is awarded by the five sponsoring statistical societies:</p> <p> The <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Statistical_Association">American Statistical Association</A> (ASA)<BR/> The <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_Society_of_Canada">Statistical Society of Canada</A> (SSC)<BR /> The <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Mathematical_Statistics">Institute of Mathematical Statistics</A> (IMS)<BR/> The Eastern North American Region of the <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Biometric_Society">International Biometric Society</A> (ENAR)<BR/> The Western North American Region of the <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Biometric_Society">International Biometric Society</A> (WNAR) </p> <p> The presentation of the award takes place at the annual Joint Statistical Meetings and, in fact, was awarded on Wednesday, August 4, 2010 in Vancouver, BC. This award is widely regarded as the "Nobel Prize in Statistics," as it is a worldwide competition encompassing the entire field and only a single award is given each year. </p><p> The citation on Dunson\u2019s award is as follows: For his wide-ranging and fundamental contributions to the development of parametric and nonparametric modeling within complex Bayesian frameworks; for making significant concurrent scientific progress in machine learning through this development; for use of this methodology in substantive applications, notably in reproductive epidemiology; and for outstanding service to the profession as well as mentoring of students and post-doctoral researchers. </p><p> This has been a remarkable year for Professor Dunson. He was also elected a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and he was named the 2010 Myrto Lefkopoulou Distinguished Lecturer at Harvard School of Public Health. </p> Lance A Brown Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:44:27 EDT Dr. David Dunson wins 2010 COPSS President's Award http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-3960 <p>The lectureship was established in perpetuity in memory of Dr. Myrto Lefkopoulou, a faculty member and graduate of Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Lefkopoulou tragically died of cancer in 1992 at the age of 34 after a courageous two-year battle. She was deeply beloved by friends, students, and faculty. </p> <p> Each year the Myrto Lefkopoulou Lectureship is awarded to a promising statistician who has made contributions to either collaborative or methodologic research in the applications of statistical methods to biology or medicine, and/or who has shown excellence in the teaching of biostatistics. Ordinarily, the lectureship is given to a statistician who has earned a doctorate in the last fifteen years. The lecture is presented to a general scientific audience as the first Department colloquium of each academic year. The lectureship includes travel to Boston, a reception following the lecture, and an honorarium of $1000. Previous recipients of the Lefkopoulou Memorial Lectureship have been Xihong Lin, Heping Zhang, Francesca Dominici, Jianqing Fan, Mark van der Laan, Geert Molenberghs, Marie Davidian,Danyu Lin, Bradley P. Carlin, Steven N. Goodman, Ronald Brookmeyer, Michael Boehnke, Trevor Hastie, Hans-Georg Mueller,Giovanni Parmigiani, Kathryn Roeder, and Louise Ryan.</p> Lance A Brown Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:13:07 EDT Dr. David Dunson named the 2010 Myrto Lefkopoulou Distinguished Lecturer at Harvard School of Public Health. http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-3928 New scientific programming tools developed at Duke University can help scientists <a href="http://worthplaying.com/article/2010/5/18/news/74357/">tap the processing power of graphics processing units</a>, or GPUs, from video gaming systems to handle complex calculations, Lance A Brown Wed, 19 May 2010 14:41:09 EDT Duke using game systems to crunch scientific problems http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-3903 Dr. Jerry Reiter is the recipient of an endowed chair through the University’s Bass Program for Excellence in Undergraduate Education, a $40 million initiative that recognizes faculty members who are gifted teachers as well as scholars. Lance A Brown Wed, 05 May 2010 17:07:31 EDT Dr. Jerry Reiter received endowed chair http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-3779 <b>The BEST Award for Student Research 2010</b><p> The Department of Statistical Science invites submissions for the 2010 BEST Award, the annual prize awarded to a student or students in recognition of student research in Bayesian statistical modeling related to time series and other methods in financial applications. Lance A Brown Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:18:11 EDT The BEST Award for Student Research 2010 http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-3646 Statistical Science PhD student Hao Wang is the recipient of the 2009 BEST Award for his research on <i>"Sparse Seemingly Unrelated Regression Modelling: Applications in Econometrics and Finance".</i> <p> Statistical Science PhD student Jouchi Nakajima received an honorable mention for his research on <i>"Bayesian Analysis of GARCH and Stochastic Volatility: Modeling Leverage, Jumps and Heavy-Tails for Financial Time Series".</i> <p> For full details, Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:14:18 EST The BEST Award for Student Research 2009 http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-3557 <p>The Department of Statistical Science invites applications for faculty appointment at the level of Assistant Professor of the Practice to begin in Fall 2010. Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:01:54 EDT Assistant Professor of the Practice http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-3554 <p>Two positions for postdoctoral research associates in statistical methods and computation for immunological applications are available at Duke University. These positions are available immediately and will be filled as soon as possible.</p> <hr/> <b>Postdoctoral research associate (RA) in statistical science</b><br/> Bayesian methods and advanced Bayesian computation for structured mixture modelling. (NIH - ARRA RC1 funding)</p> <p>Appointment will be to the Department of Statistical Science, working with Mike West and his research group in development and implementation of structured mixture models for high-dimensional variables and very large data sets. Applied contexts are those of structure identification and discrimination in studies immune monitoring and immunotherapy applications in vaccine research, infectious disease and cancer, using huge data sets generated by flow cytometry technologies. The RA will join an interdisciplinary team of researchers and students in statistical science, computational biology and clinical sciences, working together to develop statistical models and software for flow cytometry data analysis.</p> <p>The RA will be involved in theory and methods developments related to hierarchical mixture modelling and Bayesian analysis, and implementation of MCMC and Bayesian EM methods including aspects of parallel and multi-core computation. Candidates should have a PhD in statistics or closely related discipline, knowledge and experience in Bayesian methods and computation, strong computational orientation and programming skills, and interests in biological applications.</p> <p>This position is available immediately and will be filled as soon as possible. Appointment will be made on a renewable, one-year contract with the expectation of a two-year term.</p> <p>Applications should be submitted by email only (as pdf attachment) to <a href="mailto:tameka@stat.duke.edu">tameka@stat.duke.edu</a>. Applicants should arrange for 3 letters of recommendation to be emailed to the same address.</p> <p>Duke University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and Educator</p> <hr/> <p><b>Postdoctoral research associate in computational statistics for flow cytometry.</b><br/> (NIH - ARRA RC1 grant funding)</p> <p>The department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at Duke University Medical Center has a postdoctoral research associate (RA) position open in computational statistics for flow cytometry. Flow cytometry is an advanced technology assay for measuring individual cell phenotype and function, and is critical for immune monitoring and immunotherapy applications in vaccine research, infectious disease and cancer. The RA will join an interdisciplinary team of researchers and students in computational biology, statistics and clinical sciences working together to develop statistical models and software for flow cytometry data analysis.</p> <p>The RA roles include the management and analysis of cancer and HIV data sets, as well as working with our collaborators in statistics to develop an open source software suite for Bayesian machine learning in flow cytometry. Candidates should have a PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Computer Science or related technical field, and strong programming skills in Python and C/C++. Knowledge of databases and a biological background are desirable but not necessary. The successful candidate will be expected to interact with experimentalists and clinicians, and to have a strong interest in learning the relevant biology.</p> <p>This position is available immediately and will be filled as soon as possible. Appointment will be made on a renewable, one-year contract with the expectation of a two-year term.</p> <p>Please submit a cover letter (including a brief statement of interest), CV, and contact information for 3 references to Dr. Cliburn Chan, <a href="mailto:cliburn.chan@duke.edu">cliburn.chan@duke.edu</a>.</p> <p>Duke University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and Educator</p> Lance A Brown Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:08:04 EDT Positions for Postdoctoral Research Associates in Statistical Methods and Computation for Immunological Applications http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-3553 <p>The Department of Statistical Science at Duke University is inviting applications for a Postdoctoral Associate to work on Bayesian methods for massive dimensional predictors, with an emphasis on applications to studies of gene-environment interactions and complex phenotypes. Some areas of particular interest include random and nonlinear projections for dimensionality reduction, sparse latent factor models and Bayesian nonparametrics. The ideal candidate will hold a Ph.D in statistics or a related field and will have a very strong theoretical and computational background. This research will focus on advancing the theory and methods available for massive dimensional predictors, with an emphasis on practically useful methods that can be applied broadly by non-statisticians. </p> <p>Applicants should email their CV, a brief statement of their background and interests and contact information for at least three references to:</p> <p>David Dunson, Professor<br /> Department of Statistical Science <br /> Duke University <br /> <a href="mailto:dunson@stat.duke.edu">dunson@stat.duke.edu</a></p> Lance A Brown Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:57:29 EDT Postdoctoral Associate in Bayesian Statistics http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-3531 The Department of Statistical Science invites applications for faculty appointment at the level of Assistant Professor to begin in Fall 2010. Preference will be given to candidates whose core statistical science research interests are complemented with collaborative research interest in systems biology, Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:50:28 EDT Assistant Professor Position http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-3530 The Duke University Department of Statistical Science invites applications for Visiting Faculty positions to begin in Fall 2010. Preference will be given to candidates whose core statistical science research interests are complemented with collaborative research interest in systems biology, Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:48:02 EDT Visiting Faculty Positions http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-82-0-3391 The first issue of the Duke Statistics Alumni Letter is available on the <a href="http://www.stat.duke.edu/people/alumninetwork/">Duke Statistics Alumni Network</a> homepage. The Alumni Network home page is available via a link at the bottom of the Duke Statistics homepage. Lance A Brown Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:26:08 EDT Duke Statistics Alumni Network Web Site and Newsletter http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-0-0-3334 <a href="http://www.stat.duke.edu/~jbn9/"> Jarad Niemi </a>, who will graduate PhD in May, is one of the winners of the 2009 Student Paper Competition run by the <a href="http://www.amstat.org/sections/SBSS/"> Section on Bayesian Statistical Science</a> of the American Statistical Association. Lance A Brown Mon, 04 May 2009 12:18:31 EDT Jared Niemi among winners for 2009 Student Paper Competition http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-82-0-3319 A recent paper demonstrating detailed application of <a href="http://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/abstract/S1097-2765(09)00146-4">Bayesian factor analysis in cancer systems biology</a> has been selected for invited commentary. The abstract of the full <a href="http://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/abstract/S1097-2765(09)00232-9"> commentary article </a> reads: <i> "Systems biology promises to personalize medicine via network-based biomarkers that predict therapeutic effectiveness. Toward this goal, Chang et al. (2009) recently introduced a systems-based approach to break down oncogenic signaling networks into modules that predict the effectiveness of pathway-specific therapeutics"</i> Lance A Brown Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:05:42 EDT Bayesian analysis and systems biology http://fds.duke.edu/db?listnews-28-82-0-3303 The 2009 BEST Award competition is open and will receive submissions from eligible Duke students up until the September 30th 2009 deadline. The Award will be announced and made at a ceremony in late October 2009. Lance A Brown Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:05:53 EDT 2009 BEST Award for Student Research