North American School of Information Theory Coming to Purdue Summer 2013

Purdue will host the 2013 North American School of Information Theory summer school, June 4-7, 2013. Signs for the summer school have been posted on bulletin boards throughout HAAS and MATH this spring. At least 126 participants are already enrolled and will take part in the summer school, a faculty workshop (see below) scheduled to coincide with the summer school, or both.

There will be surveys and tutorials ranging from information theory approaches for both large and wireless networks to bioinformatics and quantum computing. There will also be daily poster sessions, professional development, and extra-curricular events offered. The registration is free for Purdue students.

A second event, a 2-day faculty workshop, will be offered on the evenings of June 5 and 6. The interdisciplinary topic is "Science of Information." This workshop is aligned with a $25 million NSF initiative: The Center for Science of Information, and with an NSF TUES award to specifically support the workshop. The organizers will share materials from courses they have taught in Science of Information. Attending faculty will likewise share their own course experiences. As a key outcome, faculty will be prepared to teach their own Science of Information courses spanning the computational and mathematical sciences, biology, engineering, physics, and beyond.

The 2-day workshop is especially well-suited for junior faculty and/or post-docs who are interested in discussing and learning about teaching courses in the emerging Science of Information field. There is no charge for Purdue faculty to attend.

Mark Daniel Ward (Assistant Professor of Statistics, Associate Director of Actuarial Science, and Undergraduate Chair) and Deepak Kumar (Bryn Mawr College, Center for Science of Information) will be leading the workshop, sharing lessons learned and course materials developed from their respective Introduction to Science of Information courses. Check for updates and register for the workshop at: http://soihub.org/course-workshop

Please contact the organizers with any questions:

• Mark Daniel Ward — mdw@purdue.edu
• Deepak Kumar — dkumar@cs.brynmawr.edu

Congratulations May 2013 Graduates!

On Friday, May 10, 2013, Purdue University and the Department of Statistics awarded graduate and undergraduate degrees to the Class of 2013. Congratulations to all of our May 2013 graduates.





Many more photos are available on the Purdue Statistics Facebook page.

Best wishes to all of our graduates. We look forward to hearing from you!

Olga Vitek and Guang Cheng Receive Awards

Olga Vitek, Associate Professor of Statistics, and Guang Cheng, Assistant Professor of Statistics, have both received awards from the Office of the Provost for the upcoming academic year, 2013-2014.




Congratulations to Professors Vitek and Cheng for their awards!

New York Times Story Highlights "Hot New Field" of Data Sciences

Wolak and Woolford Named Distinguished Science Alumni for 2013

Dan Wolak (B.S. Statistics 1975, M.S. Statistics 1977) and Sam Woolford (M.S Applied Mathematics, 1975, Ph.D. Statistics 1979) have been selected as the 2013 Distinguished Alumni by the Actuarial Sciences Program and Department of Statistics, respectively. Wolak and Woolford will be presented with the honors at the College of Science's Distinguished Science Alumni awards program on Friday, April 12th, 2013. The awards were established in 1990 to recognize outstanding achievement by College of Science alumni in professional and related fields.

Read more about our 2013 Distinguished Alumni.

Emeritus Professor William J. Studden: 1935-2013

Emeritus Professor William J. Studden passed away suddenly on March 19, 2013. He was 77. Bill was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on September 30, 1935. Professor Studden received his B.S. from McMaster University (1958) and his Ph.D. from Stanford University under the direction of Samuel Karlin (1962). Bill joined Purdue University in 1964, and was one of the original members of the Department of Statistics. He was internationally renowned for his work on optimal designs, moment problems, splines, inequalities, and Tchebycheff systems. His co-authored book with Samuel Karlin on Tchebycheff's systems with applications in analysis and statistics continues influence the work of generations of statisticians and mathematicians. Professor Studden advised sixteen Ph.D. students, and was a member of Sigma Xi, a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and an elected member of the International Statistics Institute. Although Bill retired in 2005 as a faculty member in Statistics he remained active in research, was an avid reader, enjoyed exploring genealogy, and had a lifelong interest in antiques. Bill is survived by his wife, Myrna M. Harrison Studden.

Donations in honor of Professor Studden may be made to the William J. Studden Publication Award. The William J. Studden Publication Award was established in 2005 and recognizes a Ph.D. student enrolled in the Department of Statistics at Purdue University for an outstanding publication in mathematical statistics.

Members of Statistics Department Recognized at College of Science Faculty and Staff Awards Luncheon

Congratulations to Guang Cheng, Tadd Colver, Diane Martin, Mark D. Ward, and Hao Zhang, all of whom were recognized at the College of Science Faculty and Staff Awards luncheon held on Thursday, February 21, 2013 in the Purdue Memorial Union South Ballroom.

Dr. Roland Thorpe Visits Campus

Gundlach Discusses Students' Information Literacy & STAT113

Ellen Gundlach is featured in another video about STAT113, this time discussing how the course enhances students' Information Literacy. Ellen and some of her STAT113 students were featured in a video in October 2012, in which she focused on the redesign of the course as part of Purdue's IM:PACT program.

In this new video, Ellen discusses the importance of empowering students with the ability to collect, interpret, and question the many sources of information they will encounter during their time at Purdue. Watch the video or learn more at the Information Literacy @ Purdue website, or click the image above to watch the video directly on YouTube.

Ghosh Awarded Honorary D.Sc. Degree

Congratulations to Jayanta Ghosh, Professor of Statistics, who recently received an Honorary D.Sc. degree from the Indian Statistical Institute. Dr. Ghosh was presented with the degree (shown above with ISI President, Dr. C. Ranganathan) at the 47th Convocation of the Institute, held in Calcutta on January 9, 2013.

Congratulations again, Professor Ghosh!

Please welcome visitors Dr. Doug Baumann, Dr. Xiongzhi (Chee) Chen, Dr. Jicheng Liu, Professor Jinglai Shen, Professor Ciprian Tudor, Dr. Tao Wang, and Mr. David Warner to Purdue Statistics

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Doug Baumann, Dr. Xiongzhi (Chee) Chen, Dr. Jicheng Liu, Professor Jinglai Shen, Professor Ciprian Tudor, Dr. Tao Wang, and Mr. David Warner as visitors of Purdue Statistics this (Spring 2013) semester.















Please help make our visitors welcome, and feel free to stop by their offices to introduce yourself.

Statistics Students Featured in Insights Article About Diversity

The Fall 2012 issue of Insights, the magazine produced by Purdue's College of Science, focused on diversity within the students and staff that comprise Purdue's College of Science departments. Ph.D. student Kyle Bemis (pictured above) is featured on the cover of the magazine. Kyle is a member of the Zuni tribe and is active in several Native American groups on campus. Robert Ness, Ph.D. candidate in Statistics, and Ravindran Rajesvaran, Senior Actuarial Science and Mathematical Statistics student, are also featured in the article. "Now more than ever," Kyle is quoted as saying, "with the sciences becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, diversity is not just important, but a necessity."



You can read the article at http://c89.science.purdue.edu/insights/fall2012/many-perspectives.php, or click on the image above to download the entire magazine as a PDF.

Rubin Named to Inaugural Class of AMS Fellows

Herman Rubin, Professor of Statistics and Mathematics, has been named by the American Mathematical Society to their inaugural class of Fellows. The Fellows of the AMS program recognizes AMS members who have made outstanding contributions to the creation, exposition, advancement, communication, and utilization of mathematics.

The AMS hopes that the program will, among other things, "honor not only the extraordinary, but the excellent," and "lift the morale of the profession by providing an honor more accessible than those currently available." The responsibilities of the Fellows will include taking part in the election of new Fellows, presenting a "public face" of excellence in mathematics, and advising the President and/or the AMS Council on public matters when requested.

Gundlach & STAT113 Featured in IM:PACT Video

Ellen Gundlach and some of her STAT113 students are featured in a "Changing Classroom" video, presented by acting Purdue President Tim Sands, in which he discusses the advantages of incorporating new, interactive, and technology-enabled teaching methods into the classroom. The video highlights the IM:PACT program, which stands for "Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation," and shows Gundlach teaching in one of Purdue's new technology-enabled classrooms. The IM:PACT program intends to redesign some of Purdue's foundational courses using lessons learned from research into sound, student-centered teaching and learning.

Gundlach is shown in the video interacting with her students over whiteboards, as well as offering her thoughts on the value of supplementing online course material with direct, interactive learning, such as that shown in the video. "It's exciting to see them learning in front of my eyes," she says. She then explains that such interaction with the students allows the instructor to identify parts of the lesson the students didn't understand or that the online portion of the course didn't explain well enough, which allows the instructor to fix the problem on the spot. She finishes by saying, "I love the feeling that we're creating the lesson together."

You can watch the entire video at http://www.purdue.edu/president/video/changingclassroom/, or learn more about the IM:PACT program at http://www.purdue.edu/impact/.

Undergraduate Statistics Programs On the Rise, according to ASA

A recent article by ASA president Robert Rodriguez cites Purdue as one example of several Statistics programs reporting a rise in the number of undergraduate Statistics majors. The article also mentions opportunities at Purdue for students in actuarial science, as well as healthcare engineering in conjunction with Purdue's Regenstrief Center.

Read the entire article at http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2012/08/01/prescornerundergradstats/, or click on the image above to download a copy of the article.

Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science Program Honor Outstanding Alumni

Congratulations to Bhramar Mukherjee and Bob Beiderman, the 2012 Outstanding Alumni in Statistics and Actuarial Science. This year the Department of Statistics awarded Bhramar Mukherjee (Ph.D. Statistics 2001) with the Statistics Outstanding Alumni Award. The Actuarial Science program, administered jointly by the Department of Statistics and the Department of Mathematics, awarded Bob Beiderman (B.S. Applied Statistics 1983) with the Actuarial Science Outstanding Alumni Award. The Outstanding Alumni Award honors an alumnus for their contributions and leadership within their profession. On Friday, September 28, 2012, Bhramar Mukherjee will present a talk entitled Graduate School Revisited: The Moments and the Journey in LWSN B155 from 10:30 - 11:30 AM. The department will have a brief reception for her before the talk, at 10:00 in HAAS 111.


2012 Statistics Outstanding Alumna

Bhramar Mukherjee, Associate Professor, Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan

Bhramar Mukherjee grew up in Kolkata, India and earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Statistics, Purdue University in 2001 under the direction of Professor Bill Studden. She received her Masters of Science from Purdue University in 1999. Professor Mukherjee is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan. Her research program is focused on statistical methods in epidemiology, case-control studies, gene-environment interaction, and Bayesian modeling and inference. She is an elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association, has received the Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award for the School of Public Health, and the John G. Searle Assistant Professor award for the Department of Biostatistics.

Bhramar's favorite memories at Purdue are her daughter, Ms. Mrittika Ghosh, being born; feisty intellectual debates with her advisor, Bill Studden; receiving the Irving W. Burr award for her doctoral work; and screaming for the women's basketball team during the NCAA championships.


2012 Actuarial Science Outstanding Alumnus

Robert K. Beiderman, Manager, Retirement Programs, Southern Company

Bob Beiderman earned his Bachelor of Science degree (1983) in Applied Statistics at Purdue University. He is an Enrolled Actuary, an Associate of the Society of Actuaries, a Fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Bob currently serves as a co-chairperson for the Enrolled Actuary Examination Committee for EA-2A.

Currently, Bob is Manager of the Retirement Programs at Southern Company in Atlanta, Georgia. He has over 25 years of consulting experience. Bob works with numerous plan sponsors to develop and implement frozen plan solutions to manage costs and mitigate risk. He has assisted several clients with total HR transformation projects which included assessing current value, developing and implementing plan design alternatives, and overseeing process management effectiveness. Additionally, he has worked with various organizations on retirement design, communication, post-retirement medical plans, and financial management issues. Throughout his career as a retirement consultant, Bob has served as national chairperson for new client transition/implementation, national chairperson for retirement training, and national chairperson for recruiting.

To read more Alumni Profiles, please visit our Alumni Profiles archive.

Bemis Awarded NSF GRFP Fellowship, Participates in Minority Outreach

Ph.D. student Kyle Bemis has been awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) fellowship by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF GRFP supports outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and places emphasis on diversity in the sciences. Bemis's fellowship will support his work in developing statistical and computational methods for the analysis of DESI imaging mass spectrometry data, in joint work with Dr. R. Graham Cooks of Purdue's Department of Chemistry. Bemis, under advisor Olga Vitek, has been working on spatially-aware clustering algorithms for image segmentation, and recently presented his work in a poster at the 2012 International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB), where he won an award for best presentation during the conference's Student Council Symposium.

The NSF GRFP also encourages fellows to participate in outreach programs that broaden participation of underrepresented populations in the sciences. Bemis is a member of the Zuni tribe, and is active in several Native American groups on campus, including the Native American Student Association (NASA), and is the current Vice-President of the Purdue chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). Bemis is also a Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership (SIGP) fellow. This summer, Bemis and other native Purdue SIGP students mentored Alaskan Native high school students through the Alaskan Natives in Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP) and other underrepresented minorities through the Minority Education Through Traveling and Learning in the Sciences (METALS) program, led by Purdue geology professor Ken Ridgeway. Bemis and the other students spoke about their research and experience in science at Purdue to encourage the new generation of young scientists to pursue study in the sciences.

About Purdue AISES: http://www.purdue.edu/naecc/aises.html
About the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership: http://www.purdue.edu/naecc/sloan.html
Blog about METALS trip (and other related activities): http://purduenaecc2012.wordpress.com/