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The Master of Statistical Science program welcomed 33 new students to Durham in August. The incoming MSS class completed a virtual MATH/STAT Bootcamp, led by Ph.D. student Christine Shen, before coming from all over the globe to participate in the program’s in-person Python Bootcamp, led by Ph.D. students Ed Tam and Sam Rosen. They also participated in departmental and Graduate School orientations, including RCR training, a departmental welcome from department chair Dr. Jerry Reiter, and Program Director Dr. Funda Gunes.… read more about Welcome, MSS Class of 2025! »

Students and postdocs affiliated with Duke Statistical Science were well-represented among the winners of the 2023 Section on Bayesian Statistical Science paper competition.  Winners include: Yueqi Shen:  MSS alum, now a Ph.D. student at UNC Yichen Zhu. recent Ph.D. alum going to Bocconi for a postdoc Joseph Feldman: new postdoc starting August 2023 Filippo Ascolani: new assistant professor starting January 2024. Additionally, Yueqi won the section's Laplace Award. Congratulations to all! read more about StatSci winners of SBSS paper competition »

Duke Stat Sci Ph.D. student Xiaojun Zheng, advised by Dr. Simon Mak, has won the ASA Best Student Paper award from the Sections on Physical and Engineering Sciences (SPES) and Quality and Productivity (Q&P). This award recognizes an outstanding student paper on the development and application of statistical techniques in the physical and engineering sciences, and quality and productivity. Xiaojun's paper, titled "PERCEPT: A New Online Change-Point Detection Method Using Topological Data Analysis" with co-authors Simon… read more about Stat Sci PhD student Xiaojun Zheng wins ASA SPES+Q&P Best Student Paper award »

Associate Professor Alex Volfovsky has been named to deliver the Langford Lecture at Duke. This program was established in 2000 in tribute to the memory of Thomas Langford, former Divinity School faculty member, Dean, and Provost, who embodied the highest university values of scholarship, teaching, collegiality, and promotion of faculty excellence and community. The annual Langford Lectureship series is designed to offer Duke’s faculty an opportunity to hear about the ongoing scholarly activities of their recently… read more about Alex Volfovsky to deliver Langford Lecture »

Florence Wang graduated this past May with dual degrees in Statistical Science and Neuroscience and minors in Chemistry and Dance. Immersed in STEM throughout her time at Duke, she enhanced her course loads by adding quantitative statistical and life science classes.“That additional coursework really helped me gain a better understanding of the neural mechanisms behind how humans think,” she explains.During her senior year, she added a research assistant position at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, where she was part… read more about Divergent Thinking by Dint of Dance  »

Susan Paddock, (Alumna 1999) was elected as Vice President of the American Statistical Association.  “Her term will begin on January 1, 2024. During her tenure, Paddock’s top three priorities are to advance statistical leadership in data science and AI; support the association’s ongoing diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and accessibility work; and amplify the ASA voice for sound statistical practice in society”. Read more on the ASA elections. read more about Susan Paddock elected VP of ASA »

Congratulations to Departmental of Statistical Science Business Manager Nicole Scott for being awarded the Dean’s Pillar of Excellence Award. Presented by Dr. Gary Bennett, Dean of Trinity College Arts & Sciences, he shared that this award is given to “non-teaching staff making significant contributions to the excellence of Trinity College through their commitment to service, initiative, outstanding leadership, increased efficiency, enthusiasm, collaboration, mentoring, and diversity.” “[Nikki is] the anchor of this… read more about Nicole Scott, Recipient of Dean’s Pillar of Excellence Award »

The faculty and staff of the Department of Statistical Science offers heartfelt congratulations to the MSS Class of 2023! Members of this graduating class are part of an incredibly accomplished group. Nine students will be entering prestigious Ph.D. programs at Duke, Dartmouth College, and Penn State, among others, and most received multiple Ph.D. admissions offers.  Other members of the class are stepping into a myriad of industry roles, including data scientists, engineers, and analysts at companies like Pfizer,… read more about Congratulations, MSS Class of 2023! »

Students in the MSS program can submit a Portfolio of Work for their MS completion exam. The MS Portfolio Award is given for outstanding Portfolios, recognizing excellence in applied statistics and presentation.  Nominations for the award are made and assessed by the Portfolio advisor, Dr. Yue Jiang, and the MS Director, Dr. Funda Gunes. Due to this year’s exceptionally strong pool of portfolios, the committee has bestowed multiple award winners and honorable mentions. More information is available on the MSS… read more about Recognizing MSS Portfolio Winners »

David Dunson, Arts & Sciences Professor of Statistical Science, has been named among top scientists in the field of mathematics for the 2023 ranking of researchers at Research.com.  David Dunson’s scholarly influence combines theoretical and applied research in analyzing complex and high-dimensional data while characterizing uncertainty in inferences through probability distributions via Bayesian methods. He has made pioneering research contributions with a rich variety of popular statistical inference methods… read more about David Dunson named among top scientists in the field of mathematics »

Surya Tokdar, professor and interim chair of Statistical Science at Duke, has been named a fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS). The organization’s May 2 announcement notes Tokdar’s intellectual leadership in several fields of Bayesian inference, including posterior consistency, just-right smoothing, and frequentist properties of Bayesian estimates, as well as his development of novel models for analyzing neuroscience data. Founded in 1935, IMS is a membership organization devoted to “fostering the… read more about Surya Tokdar named IMS fellow »

Of our 44 outstanding graduates, nine will continue into Statistics, Biostatistics, and other STEM-related programs at other prestigious universities. These students received a combined two dozen Ph.D. admissions offers, with each student receiving at least one offer.  We are so proud of this impressive group of scholars: Row 1 Jiongran Wang - Texas A&M (Statistics) Xiaozhu Zhang – University of Washington (Statistics) Haoyu Jiang – University of Illinois – Urbana Champlain (Statistics) Row 2 TJ Tang - Penn… read more about Nine MSS Students Accepted into Ph.D. Programs »

Duke Chapel is one of the most iconic structures on Duke’s campus and in Durham. It also offers a magnificent gathering space for significant events in the life of the university and its members. It was designed by Julian Abele, one of the first prominent African American architects, and the namesake of Abele Quad. It’s home to beautiful stained glass, and 50 bells that you can hear played every weekday at 5 pm. Did you know that Duke students, faculty, and staff can also climb to the top of Duke Chapel? MSS students… read more about MSS Climbs Duke Chapel Tower! »

The MSS program celebrated the return of our annual in-person alumni dinner at the JB Duke on February 17th. The event, hosted by the MSS GCC, featured keynotre speaker Eduardo Coronado Sroka (MS ’20) who shared his experience and insightful advice, and an alumni panel sharing experiences from across multiple industries and fields, including McKinsey & Co., Disney, and the New York Yankees.  Program Dirctor, Dr. Funda Gunes, and faculty member Dr. Fan Li also shared remarks in support of the MSS program, and… read more about Annual MSS Alumni Dinner Returns in 2023 »

Jerry Sacks, Professor Emeritus of Statistical Science, passed away in early 2023.  Jerry was a leader of the statistics profession whose impact on the research community and national research infrastructure has had a broad and sustained impact.  Jerry joined the Duke faculty in 1992 while serving as the founding Director of the National Institute of Statistical Sciences and moved full-time to Duke in 2001.  Jerry was an active and valued colleague long past his retirement from Duke and his move to… read more about Remembering Jerry Sacks »

Thank you to Zachary Abzug of Vectra AI and Dan Salo of Proofpoint for the outstanding seminar on cloud computing in machine learning production at Duke Statistical Science that kicked off this semester’s Proseminar series. Your comprehensive discussion and demonstrations on the role of cloud platforms were insightful and greatly appreciated by all attendees, including undergraduates, Master's, and Ph.D. students. An additional shoutout to Richard Zink of Lexitas… read more about Spring 2023 Proseminar Series Kicks Off! »

Yuansi Chen, assistant professor of Statistical Science, and Kevin Welsher, associate professor of Chemistry, have been named Sloan Research Fellows for 2023. Awarded annually since 1955, Sloan Research Fellowships are one of the most prestigious awards available to U.S. and Canadian researchers. Yuansi Chen Chen’s research focuses on sampling algorithms – procedures that allow us to draw samples out of a distribution or population. They give us a glimpse into the unknown, whether the unknown is… read more about Two Trinity Faculty Named 2023 Sloan Research Fellows  »

Yuansi Chen, Assistant Professor of Statistical Science at Duke University, has been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. The award supports outstanding young faculty members in their efforts to build a successful research enterprise.  For the next five years, the NSF CAREER award will support Chen's work on the analysis of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling algorithms that arise in high dimensional Bayesian statistical inference problems.… read more about Yuansi Chen awarded NSF CAREER grant  »