At the 2012 Annual Meeting of Statistical Society of Canada (SSC) held at the University of Guelph, June 3-6, three major national awards were presented to researchers from The University of Waterloo.
1. Pierre-Robillard Award: Bei Chen
Bei Chen is the winner of the 2011 Pierre Robillard Award of the Statistical Society of Canada. This prize recognizes the best PhD thesis in probability or statistics defended at a Canadian university in a given year. Bei Chen’s thesis is entitled “Linearization Methods in Time Series Analysis”. It was written at the University of Waterloo under the supervision of Bovas Abraham and Yulia Gel.
2. CRM-SSC Prize in Statistics: Changbao Wu
Professor Changbao Wu, from the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo, is the 2012 winner of the CRM-SSC Prize. Awarded annually by the Centre de recherches mathématiques (Montréal) and the Statistical Society of Canada (SSC), this prestigious prize recognizes a statistical scientist’s professional accomplishments in research during the first fifteen years after earning a doctorate.
The award citation reads: “For his extensive and influential contributions to the theory and application of survey methodology, notably for the development of pseudo-empirical likelihood methods for the analysis of data arising from complex survey designs involving stratification and multiple frame sampling; and for proposing an inferential framework of importance to the practice of statistics in Canada.”
3. SSC Lise Manchester Award: Geoffrey Fong, David Hammond and Mary Thompson
Geoffrey Fong, David Hammond and Mary Thompson are the 2012 recipients of the Lise Manchester Award. This biennial award is given by the Statistical Society of Canada in commemoration of the late Dr. Lise Manchester’s abiding interest in using statistical methods to study matters of relevance to society. The award recognizes excellence in statistical research which considers problems of public interest and which is potentially useful for formation of Canadian public policy.
The award citation reads: “For their work using rigorous survey research methods and policy evaluation designs as part of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, and for their collaboration in Canada with government agencies, all of which has resulted in a direct and marked influence on Canadian legislation and policy regarding tobacco use, and which has influenced leaders in over twenty countries worldwide with respect to tobacco policies that include smoke-free initiatives and regulations on packaging.”
Two Waterloo alumni were also honoured by the Statistical Society of Canada this week. Rob Tibshirani was awarded the SSC Gold Medal, the Society's highest award. Rob is a BMath alumnus and is currently at Stanford. He won a Distinguished Alumnus Award. Roman Viveros-Aguilera received the SSC Distinguished Service Award. Roman is a PhD alumnus, former student of Dave Sprott, who won the Robillard Award for his PhD thesis. He is currently at McMaster.
The Statistical Society of Canada has posted profiles of the award winners with interesting insights on the lives of these gifted statisticians. Roman Viveros-Aguilera met his wife, Carolyn, when they were graduate students at the University of Waterloo. Changbao Wu was part of his rural China elementary school's first class, and his older daughter Domeny is a graduate student in the Waterloo School of Accounting and Finance.