News

GAO, Lisa (BMath (Actuarial Science, Statistics), 2016, University of Waterloo; PhD (Actuarial Science, Risk Management, and Insurance), 2022, University of Wisconsin-Madison), will be joining the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science on August 1, 2022 as an Assistant Professor. Lisa's research interests are in non-life insurance analytics problems involving predictive and dependence modeling. Her current work focuses on spatiotemporal modeling of insurance claims arising from weather-related property damage. As technological advances increase the availability and granularity of data, Lisa's research highlights the potential for analytics to support key operational areas in non-life insurance.

NEGERI, Zelalem [BSc. (Statistics), 2011, Addis Ababa University; MSc. (Statistics), 2014, Addis Ababa University; MSc. (Statistics), 2015, McMaster University; Ph.D. (Statistics), 2019, McMaster University] has joined the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science on July 1, 2022, as an Assistant Professor. Zelalem was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at McGill University’s Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health from 2019 to 2021, and worked as a Biostatistician at Veristat, LLC, a global clinical research organization before joining the University of Waterloo. His research interest focuses on developing and validating statistical methods for applications in public health research, with an emphasis on both aggregate data and individual participant data meta-analyses of diagnostic and screening test accuracy studies.

The Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science is pleased to announce Yue (Henry) Weng as the winner of the Samuel Eckler Medal in Actuarial Science. Henry graduated in Spring 2022 with a triple major in Actuarial Science, Statistics, and Combinatorics & Optimization.

Award description: 

This prize was established to recognize the contribution of Samuel Eckler to the actuarial profession and is provided by Eckler Partners. The medal, which is cast in gold, is awarded each year to the outstanding graduating student in Honours Actuarial Science.

"Henry is one of the most talented students I have taught at the University of Waterloo. His analytical skills are amazing. A well-deserved medal for him."

Professor Pengfei Li of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo was the winner of the 2022 CRM-SSC Prize in Statistics. The award recognizes a statistical scientist’s excellence and accomplishments in research during the first fifteen years after earning his/her doctorate (or equivalent degree). It is awarded annually by the Centre de recherches mathématiques (CRM) and the Statistical Society of Canada (SSC) and is widely viewed as the most prestigious honor for mid-career researchers in the field of statistics in Canada. The citation of the award reads:

“To Pengfei Li, for ground-breaking and pioneering research contributions to the EM-test for the order of finite mixture models; for original and creative methodological developments in the areas of the empirical likelihood, density ratio models, statistical genetics, non-probability sampling; for exceptional research productivity; and excellence in statistical education.”

The award was announced at the 2022 Annual Meeting (virtual) of the Statistical Society of Canada. An article detailing the research and some personal stories of Professor Pengfei Li will become available later in the summer on the SSC website.

Congratulations to Professor Wayne Oldford of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at University of Waterloo on being elected a Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA). The citation reads: "For major contributions to the development of statistical programming environments and visualization, for developing problem-based learning (PPDAC) approaches to teaching, for exceptional service, and for co-founding AISTATS, a conference in its 38th year of operation."

The designation of ASA Fellow has been a significant honor for nearly 100 years. Under ASA bylaws, the Committee on Fellows can elect up to one-third of one percent of the total association membership as fellows each year.

The 2022 class of ASA Fellows can be viewed on the amstat.org website.

A professor in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science has been named a winner of the Humboldt Research Award, better known as the Humboldt Prize, a lifetime achievement award for internationally renowned scientists.

Dr. Matthias Schonlau is only the second Canadian statistician to have won the prestigious award, after Christian Genest of McGill University.

Ruodu Wang, University Research Chair and Sunlife Research Fellow in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at University of Waterloo, has been named Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS).

Dr. Wang received the award for significant contributions to statistics and applied probability in operations research, risk management, and actuarial science; and highly influential interdisciplinary research bridging statistics and probability.

Founded in 1935, the IMS is one of the world’s premier societies in statistics and probability. Each Fellow nominee is assessed by a committee of their peers and the election is based on “demonstrated distinction in research in statistics or probability, by publication of independent work of merit”. This qualification may be partly or wholly waived in the case of either a candidate of well-established leadership whose contribution to the field of statistics or probability other than original research shall be judged of equal value; or a candidate of well-established leadership in the application of statistics or probability, whose work has contributed greatly to the utility of and the appreciation of these areas.

The list of the 2022 class of IMS Fellows can be found at the IMS website.

Pengfei Li, Professor of Statistics in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at University of Waterloo, has been named Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS).

Dr. Li received the award for ground-breaking and pioneering research contributions to the EM-test for the order of finite mixture models; for original and creative methodological developments in the areas of the empirical likelihood, density ratio models, statistical genetics, non-probability sampling; for exceptional research productivity; and excellence in statistical education.

Founded in 1935, the IMS is one of the world’s premier societies in statistics and probability. Each Fellow nominee is assessed by a committee of their peers and the election is based on “demonstrated distinction in research in statistics or probability, by publication of independent work of merit”. This qualification may be partly or wholly waived in the case of either a candidate of well-established leadership whose contribution to the field of statistics or probability other than original research shall be judged of equal value; or a candidate of well-established leadership in the application of statistics or probability, whose work has contributed greatly to the utility of and the appreciation of these areas.

The list of the 2022 class of IMS Fellows can be found at the IMS website.

Meng Yuan is awarded the Mathematics Doctoral Prize (Third Place) for her dissertation entitled “Semiparametric Empirical Likelihood Inference under Two-Sample Density Ratio Models”, which was completed in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science in 2021 under the joint supervision of Pengfei Li and Changbao Wu.

The Mathematics Doctoral Prizes valued at $1500, $1000 and $500 are given annually to recognize the achievement of graduating doctoral students in the Faculty of Mathematics. Recipients are selected by a committee within the Faculty of Mathematics based on nominations received for consideration of the Governor General’s Gold Medal in March.

Meng Yuan is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science working on research projects related to the emerging topics of data integration and non-probability survey samples.

Gord Willmot, a professor in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Sciences, was named among the most recent winners of the Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision.