The Department of Statistical Science congratulates our three December MSS graduates: Ying Xin, Tiancheng Pan, and Haoming Yang! Portfolio Research Topics: Ying Xin – "Image Classification on Avengers Faces Dataset” Tiancheng Pan – “Reinforcement Learning on Classification to Scheduling Patients” Haoming Yang – Interpretable AI for Relating Brain Structural and Function Connections. Ying and Tiancheng are pursuing careers in private industry and Haoming will be joining the ECE Ph.D. program here at… read more about Congratulations to our December MSS Graduates! »
One Duke alumna and a Duke senior have been named in the inaugural class of Quad Fellows, a new scholarship that provides funding for graduate research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This scholarship is supported by the governments of the United States, India, Australia, and Japan. Alumna Raahina Malik, and current senior Jenny Huang will be a part of a cohort of 100 masters and doctoral STEM students studying in the United States. The fellowship develops a network of science and… read more about Alumna, Senior Selected for New Quad Fellowship in STEM Fields »
StatSci Assistant Professor Alexander Fisher has been recognized with a Publisher’s Award for Excellence in Systematic Research for a paper he had published in “Systematic Biology” as a graduate student. Announced last month, the annual award is presented to the two best papers based on student research published in the journal during the previous year. The lead author must have been a student at the time the research was conducted. Fisher’s paper, “Relaxed Random Walks at Scale,” was among the more than 400… read more about Fisher Receives Publisher's Award for Excellence in Systematic Research »
DURHAM, N.C. -- “How many fingers am I holding up?” For vision-sensing brain cells in a monkey’s visual cortex, that answer depends on whether the digits are next to each other or partially overlapping. A new study from Duke University finds that single neurons conveying visual information about two separate objects in sight do so by alternating signals about one or the other. When two objects overlap, however, the brain cells detect them as a single entity. The new report is out Nov. 28 in the journal eLife. The… read more about Brain Cells Use A Telephone Trick To Report What They See »
Ph.D. student Xiaojun Zheng (with advisor Assistant Professor Simon Mak) received the Best Student Paper Award at the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) Annual Meeting. Their paper, “PERCEPT: a new online change-point detection method using topological data analysis”, proposes a new topology-aware online change detection approach for monitoring high-dimensional data streams, with applications to solar flare detection and human gesture monitoring. This award recognized outstanding papers… read more about Xiaojun Zheng Received Best Student Paper Award »
Three researchers with ties to Duke's Department of Statistics have received the newly-established Blackwell-Rosenbluth Award. The award recognizes outstanding junior Bayesian researchers based on their overall contribution to the field and to the community. This year's winners include: Duke Assistant Professor of Statistical Science Simon Mak, John Hopkins Assistant Professor of Biostatistics and Duke doctoral alumni Aki Nishimura, and Texas A&M Assistant Professor of Statistics and… read more about Junior Researchers Receive Blackwell-Rosenbluth Award »
StatSci Professor Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel discusses data science pedagogy on the recent episode of the Stats + Stories podcast. The episode’s focus, according to Stats + Stories, is how “in the past, Introduction to Statistics classes spent a lot of time covering distribution tables, teaching students to run stats by hand and focusing on statistical procedures. However, educators are continually considering new ways to teach stats, and the increasing popularity of data science makes it a more urgent… read more about Stats + Stories podcast hosts Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel on data science pedagogy »
Five MSS students received the Dean’s Research Award from The Graduate School this semester: Eric Bai (MSS ’23), Yicheng Shen (MSS ’24), Xinran Song (MSS ’23), Jiongran Wang (MSS ’23), and Xiaozhu Zhang (MSS ’23). This highly competitive award provides funding for students to pursue research opportunities, necessary research tools and programs, and conference attendance. These students will utilize their awards to pursue research on a myriad of topics including mortality predictions via medical texts, analyzing Twitter data… read more about MSS Students Receive Dean’s Research Award »
PhD student Xiaojun Zheng (with advisor Assistant Professor Simon Mak) received the Best Student Paper Award at the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) Annual Meeting. Their paper, “PERCEPT: a new online change-point detection method using topological data analysis”, proposes a new topology-aware online change detection approach for monitoring high-dimensional data streams, with applications to solar flare detection and human gesture monitoring. This award recognizes outstanding papers… read more about PhD Student Receives INFORMS Best Student Paper Award »
DURHAM, N.C. – Two Duke University seniors were among the recipients selected this weekend for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Qi Xuan Khoo and Shreyas Hallur were chosen from among many applicants from colleges and universities. Hallur received one of the 32 scholarships available to students from the United States, while Khoo won the only scholarship available to Malaysian citizens. The scholarships provide all expenses for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England. Recipients are selected… read more about Two Duke Seniors Win Rhodes Scholarships »
Big thanks to our amazing faculty (Dr. Banks and Dr. Jiang), post-docs (Dr. Matuk) and Ph.D students (Evan Knox, Yunran Chen, Raphael Morsomme) for volunteering their time to review provide feedback on the Ph.D. applications of our undergraduate and Master’s students. Mentors gave feedback about where to apply, application tricks, and how to make CVs and statements of purpose stronger. Students found it very helpful and really appreciated this in-house care! read more about Students Prepare for Ph.D. Applications with Review Session »
Statistical Science Professor Jerry Reiter presented the 2022 Clifford C. Clogg Memorial Lecture on November 3 at Penn State University. Reiter spoke on the topic: “Is There a Future for Public Use Data?” Sponsored by Penn State’s departments of statistics and sociology, the annual Clifford C. Clogg Memorial Lecture honors a researcher who has made distinguished contributions at the intersection of statistics and social science. The lecture is in memory of the late Clifford C. Clogg – a distinguished professor of… read more about Jerry Reiter Delivers 2022 Clogg Memorial Lecture »
Recruiters recently returned to campus for an in-person STEM-focused career fair, co-sponsored by the Master’s of Statistical Science and Master in Interdisciplinary Data Science Programs. Almost 20 employers were welcomed to campus, including IBM, Amazon, Cameo, and Humana, among others. Employers searching for students to fill both internship and full-time employment positions were able to connect with over 300 students from the MSS and MIDS programs, as well as graduate students from Electrical & Computer Engineering… read more about Inaugural MSS/MIDS Career Fair – Resume Book available »
The Duke University Master's and Ph.D. of Statistical Science programs are actively recruiting students for Fall 2023 enrollment. We will host a virtual admissions information and Q&A session on Thursday, October 26 from 1:00-3:00 EDT (register here). At this session, students will have an opportunity to hear about both programs as well as chat with current students to hear about their experiences. The Zoom link for the event is here. See below for more information about each program… read more about Virtual MSS & Ph.D. Admissions Session »
As a first-year student at Duke, Brooke Harmon didn’t know she would need a mentor – or two, or three – to help guide her through college. But what she didn’t look for, she found nevertheless. Now a senior, Harmon boasts an important, vast and diverse web of friends, confidants, advisers and mentors who she has leaned on throughout her collegiate journey. This group – a personal, informal board of directors of sorts – has proven valuable to Harmon and is the sort of support system Duke’s career counselors and other student… read more about On Students Finding Advice and Help Along the Duke Journey »
Big thanks to Jeffrey Baker and GOURAV GHOSHAL of Wells Fargo for joining our Duke Statistical Science proseminar and sharing valuable information about entry-level data scientists opportunities at Wells Fargo and their work in Analytics and AI ML Center of Excellence (CoE). It was a well-attended (by both Master's and undergraduate students) interactive session with hands-on case studies and activities. read more about Wells Fargo Recruitment Session »
The Department of Statistical Sciences invites applications for a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level to begin in July/August 2023. Applicants from all areas of statistical science are encouraged to apply. For more information and to apply, visit: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/22740 read more about New Assistant Professor Tenure-Track Position - Apply Now! »
Vittorio Orlandi, a Ph.D. student studying statistics at Duke under the supervisor of Alex Volfovsky and Cynthia Rudin, received the 2022 Laplace Award for best student paper for his work on density regression. Orlandi received the award at the 2022 Joint Statistical Meetings. Orlandi – whose research interests include bayesian nonparametrics, interpretable causal inference, open source software and quantitive finance – won for his paper, Density Regression with Bayesian Additive Regression Trees. read more about Stat Ph.D. Student Wins "Laplace Award" for Best Student Paper »
An interdisciplinary team of Duke researchers – Assistant Professors of the Practice Shira Viel (Mathematics), Maria Tackett (Statistical Science) and Tori Akin (Mathematics) – have joined a seven-institution research collaboration investigating how mathematics departments engage with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). As part of ACT UP Math (Achieving Critical Transformation in Undergraduate Programs in Mathematics) project – a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Science… read more about Team Awarded NSF Grant to Research DEI in Introductory Math »
David L. Banks, professor of the practice of Statistical Science, received the 2022 Deming Lecture Award and delivered the Deming Lecture in early August during the 2022 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) in Washington, D.C. American Statistical Association (ASA) President Katherine Ensor and Deming Award Committee Member Amit Bhattacharyya presented Banks the award prior to his lecture, "The Future of Statistics in Industry." Banks was recognized: "For significant contributions to statistical methods and practice… read more about Banks Receives Deming Lecture Award »
Eight interdisciplinary research projects – including one led by Duke University researchers – are part of a new $7.5+ million initiative by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) focused on empowering more reliable prediction of the spread of infectious diseases, the effects of mitigation measures and other critical aspects of national health crises. Duke assistant professors of Statistical Science Jason Xu and Alexander Volfovsky, along with David McAdams, professor… read more about Interdisciplinary Duke Team Awarded NSF Grant to Better Understand and Predict Epidemics »
The Master’s of Statistical Science program welcomed 51 new students to Durham last week. The incoming MSS class came from all over the globe to participate in the program’s Math and Stat Bootcamp last week, led by Ph.D. students Christine Shen and Steven Winter. Orientation continues this week with Computing Bootcamp, a departmental welcome from department chair Dr. Surya Tokdar and Program Director Dr. Funda Gunes. Their sessions also included speakers from OIE/OSC, DuWell, Scholars@Duke, as well as Dr. Joan Combs Durso… read more about Welcome, new MSS students! »
Alumna Nicole Dalzell, Assistant Teaching Professor of Statistics at Wake Forest University, receives Teaching Professionals Award for Excellence. Read the story here. read more about Statistical Science PhD Alum wins Distinguished Teaching Award »
