Associate
Professor
Marius
Hofert
was
awarded
a
Natural
Sciences
and
Engineering
Council
of
Canada
(NSERC)
Discovery
Accelerator
Supplement
for
his
suggested
new
work
on
copula
modeling
with
generative
neural
networks.
Hofert’s
research
focuses
on
the
intersection
of
copula
modeling
and
computational
statistics
with
applications
in
quantitative
risk
management.
Looking
at
high-dimensional,
hierarchical
models,
Hofert’s
research
includes
theoretical
aspects
such
as
the
construction
or
sampling,
as
well
as
practical
applications
such
as
the
estimation,
graphical
goodness-of-fit
and
computability
of
such
models.
Copula
models
often
lead
to
computational
challenges
when
involved
in
data
analyses
and
Hofert
has
worked
to
provide
theoretical
and
practical
solutions,
as
well
as
the
actual
implementation,
to
solve
or
mitigate
such
challenges.
Applications
in
finance,
insurance
or
quantitative
risk
management
require
such
models
for
decision-making
purposes.
Hofert’s
work
has
practical
applications
in
addressing
and
eliminating
some
of
the
long-standing
challenges
of
simulation-based
applications
of
copulas
in
such
applications.
“Congratulations
to
Marius
for
being
awarded
the
NSERC
Discovery
Accelerator
Supplement,”
said
Stefan
Steiner,
Chair
of
the
Department
of
Statistics
and
Actuarial
Science.
“His
research
and
contributions,
including
development
and
maintenance
of
the
open
source
statistical
software
R,
are
significant.”
The
DAS
Program
aims
to
provide
substantial
and
timely
additional
resources
to
accelerate
progress
and
maximize
the
impact
of
outstanding
research
programs.
In
2020,
NSERC
awarded
$15.24
million
to
127
applications
in
the
DAS
competition.
These
supplements
are
valued
at
$120,000
over
three
years.
