Congratulations Statistics 2005-2006 Award Winners!
04-21-2006
The Department of Statistics extends congratulations to the faculty and student award winners for the 2005-2006 academic year. The award reception was held on Friday, April 21, 2006 in the MATH Library lounge. The Department of Statistics was pleased to have special guests in attendance including Dean Vitter, who presented awards, and Emeritus Professor Louis J. Cote. Below are the awards for which faculty and students were recognized.
- College of Science Outstanding Science Students
- Purdue Exam Award
- Actuarial Science Scholarship Award
- Baxter Award
- V.L. Anderson Scholarship Award
- I.W. Burr Award
- L.J. Cote M.S. Excellence in Statistics Award
- Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Teaching Assistant
- Department of Statistics Honoree at the Celebration of Graduate Student Teaching
- STATCOM Community Service Award
- William J. Studden Publication Award
- Department of Statistics Outstanding Assistant Professor Undergraduate Teaching Award
- College of Science 2006 Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher
- University Faculty Scholar
College of Science Outstanding Science Students
When making the selections for this award, the College of Science considered outstanding academic achievement, a strong academic program, and evidence of co-curricular involvement, such as undergraduate research, community service, and leadership.
Winners:
- Erin Wilson, Senior in Actuarial Science and Applied Statistics
- Carmen Rhodes, Junior in Actuarial Science and Statistics
- Andrew Steenman, Sophomore in Actuarial Science and Statistics
- James Humphrey, Freshman in Actuarial Science and Statistics
- Brian Hunter, Freshman in Actuarial Science and Statistics
Pictured left to right: Professor Penney, Andrew Steenman, Brian Hunter
Not Pictured: Erin Wilson, Carmen Rhodes, James Humphr
The Purdue Exam Award is given to undergraduate students majoring in Actuarial Science who have passed one or more Society of Actuaries exams.
Winners:
- Dustin Adams, Junior in Actuarial Science
- Briana Bethel, Senior in Actuarial Science (passed two exams)
- Julie Kiekenapp, Sophomore in Actuarial Science
- Sahara Mohamad, Senior in Actuarial Science
- Megan Thomson, Senior in Actuarial Science
Pictured left to right: Professor Penney, Sahara Mohamad, Julie Kiekenapp, Magan Thomson
Not pictured: Dustin Adams, Briana Bethel
Actuarial Science Scholarship Award
Based on recommendations from faculty, academic performance, and the number of actuarial exams passed, scholarships are awarded to top students in each class. The awards this year were made possible through the generous support of Swiss Re and Lincoln Financial Group. The Actuarial Science program is grateful for their support.
Winners:
- Mohd Hafiz Ab Hamid, Swiss Re, Senior in Actuarial Science and Applied Statistics
- TJ Clinch, Swiss Re, Senior in Actuarial Science and Statistics
- Laura Helen Delaney, Swiss Re, Junior in Actuarial Science and Statistics
- Xiaoli Zhang, Swiss Re, Junior in Actuarial Science
- Rahul Jyoti, Lincoln Financial Group, Junior in Actuarial Science and Statistics
- Amanda C. Brown, Swiss Re, Sophomore in Actuarial Science and Statistics
- Kyle A. Bauer, Swiss Re, Sophomore in Actuarial Science and Statistics
- Kristen E. Dyson, Lincoln Financial Group, Freshman in Actuarial Science and Statistics
- Rachel C. Smith, Lincoln Financial Group, Freshman in Actuarial Science and Statistics
First Row (Pictured left to right) : Amanda Brown, Laura DeLaney, Kristen Dyson, Professor Penney, Sahara Mohammad, Mohd Hafiz Ab Hamid
Second Row: Professor Song, Xioali Zhang, Rachel Smith, Kyle Bauer
Back Row: Professor Bock, Dean Vitter
Not pictured: TJ Clinch, Rahul Jyoti
The Glen E. Baxter Memorial Fund was established in 1983 by family and friends of Professor Baxter shortly after the premature death of this gifted teacher-scholar.
Annual proceeds from the fund are used to honor undergraduate students who have demonstrated excellence in mathematics. The recipients of the awards are selected by a committee of professors from the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Statistics.
Winner: Joshua Tucker Robinson
Joshua Robinson
Joshua Tucker Robinson was born in Mount Holly, New Jersey. He entered Purdue in the fall of 2003 and is pursuing a double major in Chemistry and Mathematics with a minor in Political Science. He plans to graduate in the spring of 2007. He is an active runner and enjoys playing disc golf. Joshua is a die-hard basketball, baseball, and football fan and loves to read dystopian literature.
V.L. Anderson Scholarship Award
This scholarship is awarded to an undergraduate student who shows promise of contributing to statistics and its applications. The scholarship is in honor of Dr. Virgil Anderson who retired from the Department of Statistics in December 1986 after nearly 36 years. Professor Anderson was a leader in applied statistics on the Purdue campus and was the Director of the Statistics Laboratory, which was the forerunner of the Statistical Consulting Service. In great demand as a statistical consultant in industry, he authored widely used textbooks in experimental design. Other major themes in Dr. Anderson's work included statistical genetics and research on highways.
Winner: Laura Helen DeLaney
Pictured left to right: Dean Vitter, Laura DeLaney
Laura DeLaney was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. She entered Purdue in August 2003 and is pursuing a B.S. in Actuarial Science and a B.S in Statistics with minors in Economics and Management. Laura enjoys working out, reading, writing letters and cooking (well, at least trying). She will receive her degrees in May 2007.
The late Irving W. Burr served on the Purdue faculty from 1941 until his retirement in 1974. He was a leading expert in quality control and industrial statistics. He was well-known for his text Engineering Statistics and Quality Control (McGraw-Hill, 1953) and he was active as a consultant to business and industry. Professor Burr's scholarly work centered on statistical process control and distribution theory. The Burr distributions are named for him. He was elected a fellow of both the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. Professor Burr was one of the faculty whose work and reputation helped transform Purdue from a regional college to a national research university.
This award was established in 1974 upon the retirement of Professor Burr, an eminent statistician who taught at Purdue for nearly 35 years. The criteria for this award are: (a) promise of contribution to the profession as evidenced by academic excellence in courses and exams, and by the quality of the thesis research, (b) and excellence in teaching or consulting as a graduate student at Purdue.
Co-Winners: Chun Han and Peng Zeng
Pictured left to right: Dean Vitter, Chun Han, Professor Gu
Chun Han was born in Qi Chun, Hubei, China. He received a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics in 1998 from Wuhan University. After completing a Master's degree in Mathematics at Ohio State University in the spring of 2001, he joined Purdue that summer and received his Ph.D. in Statistics in August 2005. His areas of specialization include Nonparametric and Semi-parametric Regression. Chun is a member of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the American Statistical Association. He enjoys all sports. His advisor was Professor Chong Gu.
Peng Zeng
Peng Zeng was born in Jingzhou, Hubei, China. He received a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics in 1999 and an M.S. in Statistics the following year from Nankai University. He joined Purdue in the fall of 2001 and received an M.S. in Mathematical Statistics in May 2003 and his Ph.D. in Statistics in August 2005. Peng's areas of specialization include Dimension Reduction, Design of Experiments and Nonparametric Regression. Peng is a member of the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. He enjoys reading and traveling. His advisor was Professor Michael Y. Zhu.
L.J. Cote M.S. Excellence in Statistics Award
The recipient of the L.J. Cote M.S. Excellence in Statistics Award will be completing an M.S. in Applied Statistics and possesses the following skills that are required of an applied statistician.
- Technical skill, as evidenced by course performance, faculty evaluation, and performance on the final M.S. examination.
- Skill in consulting and communication, as evidenced by excellence in supervised consulting or secondarily in teaching.
The award is in honor of Professor Louis J. Cote who retired from the Department of Statistics in June of 1991. During his 31 years with the Department, Professor Cote taught a variety of courses in the Department of Statistics including Introduction to Probability, Basic Probability and Applications, Applied Regression Analysis, andTime Series and Applications. He was a compassionate mentor to graduate students.
Winner: Patricia Yoshida
Pictured left to right: Dean Vitter, Patricia Yoshida, Emeritus Professor Louis J. Cote
Patricia Yoshida was born in Seattle, Washington. She received a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the University of Washington in 2004. She entered the Department of Statistics in the fall of 2004 and will receive her Master's degree in Applied Statistics this May. Patricia is active with STATCOM and the Statistical Consulting Service in the Department of Statistics. She is also a member of the American Statistical Association and the American Society for Quality. In her free time, Patricia enjoys swimming, scrapbooking and playing the video game ?Dance Dance Revolution?. After graduation, Patricia will begin a position with a marketing firm in Boston. Dr. Bruce Craig has served as Patricia's advisor.
Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Teaching Assistant
Teaching Assistants contribute substantially to the teaching mission of the Department of Statistics. Their classroom performance is important to the quality of service to students. Therefore, the Department of Statistics faculty annually recognizes a Statistics Teaching Assistant for teaching excellence in the classroom.
Winner: Dimitar Vangelov
Pictured left to right: Dean Vitter, Dimitar Vangelov
Dimitar Vangelov was born in Svilengrad, Bulgaria. He received a B.A. in Mathematics from Beloit College in 2004. He entered Purdue in the fall of 2004 and anticipates receiving his Master's degree in Computational Finance in summer 2006. One of Dimitar's favorite activities is fishing. Dr. Frederi Viens has served as his advisor.
Department of Statistics Honoree at the Celebration of Graduate Student Teaching
The Purdue University Committee on the Education of Teaching Assistants (CETA), the Purdue Graduate School, and the Purdue Office of the Provost honor outstanding graduate teaching assistants at the annual Celebration of Graduate Student Teaching banquet.
Winner: Shannon Knapp
Pictured left to right: Professor Bock, Shannon Knapp, Dean Vitter
Shannon was born and raised in San Diego, California. She has a background in wildlife biology. She entered the Department of Statistics in the fall of 2002 and received her M.S. degree in December 2004. Shannon has been active in the Purdue Graduate Student Government since arriving at Purdue, and will serve as the Treasurer during the 2006-2007 academic year. In her spare time she enjoys growing tomatoes and doting on her neurotic collie, Jake. Her advisor is Dr. Bruce Craig.
Shannon will be honored at the Seventh Annual Celebration of Graduate Student Teaching on April 27, 2006.
STATCOM Community Service Award
STATCOM is a community outreach program provided to the greater Lafayette area by graduate students in the Department of Statistics at Purdue University. The program offers the expertise of statistics graduate students in the areas of data collection, organization, and interpretation, free of charge to non-profit community organizations.
STATCOM was born out of a desire to enhance the existing partnership between Purdue University and the community at large, thereby impacting the quality of life in the area in a positive way.
Potential recipients of the service include organizations such as:
- Schools
- Some government agencies
- Health Centers
The group was founded in 2002 by Nels Grevstad. STATCOM has received two $1500 grants from the Student Grant Program for Community Service, administered through Purdue's Office of Engagement. Currently there are 49 graduate student consultants involved in the program.
Co-Winners:Yun Wang and Alexander Lipka
Yun Wang
Yun Wang, STATCOM Director for summer 2005, received a B.S. in Economic Management in 1997 from the University of Science and Technology of China as well as a Master's degree in 2000. She entered the department in the fall of 2001 and received her Ph.D. in August 2005 under the direction of Professor George P. McCabe. She is currently conducting research at the University of Pittsburgh.
Pictured left to right: Dean Vitter, Alexander Lipka
Alexander Lipka, STATCOM Director for the 2005-2006 academic year, was born in Abbington, Pennsylvania. He received a B.A. in Music and a B.S. in Statistics from the University of Florida in 2002. Alex entered Purdue in the fall of 2002 and received an M.S. in Applied Statistics in 2004. He expects to receive his Ph.D. in Statistics in May 2008. His areas of research include Genetics and Applied Statistics. Alex is a member of the American Statistical Association. He enjoys running and playing various instruments including the piano and guitar. Professors Rebecca W. Doerge and George P. McCabe serve as Alex's co-advisors.
William J. Studden Publication Award
The Dr. William J. Studden Publication award recognizes work done by a current Purdue Statistics Ph.D. candidate on an outstanding mathematical statistics paper accepted for publication. The award honors the retirement of Dr. William J. Studden from Purdue University's Department of Statistics in 2005 after 41 years with the Department.
Winner: Surya Tokdar
Pictured left to right: Dean Vitter, Surya Tokdar
Surya Tokdar was born in Calcutta, India. He received both a B.A. and M.S. in Statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata, India, in 2000 and 2002 respectively. He began his studies here at Purdue in the fall of 2002. His areas of research include Bayesian, Nonparametric theory, Methodology and Computation. Surya’s paper Posterior Consistency of Logistic Gaussian Process Priors for Density Estimation was accepted for publication by the Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference. Surya is a member of the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. He enjoys painting, web developing, and playing cricket. Professor Jayanta Ghosh has served as his advisor.
Department of Statistics Outstanding Assistant Professor Undergraduate Teaching Award
The Department of Statistics presents this award each year to a tenure-track assistant professor in honor of teaching accomplishments, including significant contributions to undergraduate education.
Winner: Seongjoo Song
Pictured left to right: Dean Vitter and Professor Seongjoo Song
Seongjoo Song entered the Department of Statistics in 2001 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Her research interests include Applied Probability, Aysmptotics, and Financial Mathematics. She has served as the Assistant Director for the Actuarial Science Program since 2001, stepping in as Interim Director during the sabbatical of the Director of Actuarial Science, Professor Richard Penney. Seongjoo has passed the Society of Actuaries FM (Financial Mathematics), P (Probability), and C (Construction and Evaluation of Actuarial Models) exams. She has been a popular instructor for STAT 417, Statistical Theory. Seongjoo is currently developing a new course to help students prepare for the Society of Actuaries Exam C. It will be taught to undergraduates in the spring of 2007.
College of Science 2006 Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher
The Purdue Science Student Council polls the College of Science student body every year for their choice for outstanding undergraduate teacher.
Winner: Jeffrey Beckley
Jeffrey Beckley
Jeffrey Beckley joined the Department of Statistics as "Professional Actuary in Residence," with a Continuing Lecturer title in the fall of 2005. He has a joint appointment with the Department of Mathematics. He is the instructor for STAT 170, Introduction to Actuarial Science, and MA 370, Mathematical Theory of Interest. Jeff's students were impressed by his dedication to their success citing his patience and willingness to help outside of the classroom. Further evidence of his commitment to his students is shown when he calls on all of his 83 students by name. Given the small size of the Actuarial Science program within the College of Science, the strong support that Jeff received from students makes a compelling statement about his teaching abilities.
The University Faculty Scholar program recognizes outstanding faculty who are achieving academic distinction at an accelerated rate.
Winner: Bruce Craig
Pictured left to right: Dean Vitter, Professor Bruce Craig
Professor Bruce Craig is an Associate Professor (2002) in the Department of Statistics. His research is in statistical methods for the problems in the biological sciences that lie at the forefront of the Department of Statistic's interdisciplinary efforts. His work has focused primarily on the utilization of Bayesian hierarchical methods which provide a natural framework to describe vast amounts of heterogeneity in data. His areas of research include diagnostic testing, plant and human genetics, protein structure, animal and insect population demographics, medical decision making, and disease modeling. Professor Craig serves as the Director of the Statistical Consulting Service (SCS) which provides advice for the statistical design of experiments and data analysis to University researchers.