
Bioinformatics student Rebecca Asiimwe wins 2018-19 Data Science Award
We are happy to announce that the winner of the 2019 Data Science Award is UBC Bioinformatics M.Sc. student Rebecca Asiimwe.

Congratulations to the 2018 Marshall Prize co-winners, Harlan Campbell and Eric Fu!
The Departmental Awards Committee is pleased to announce that the co-winners of the 2018 Marshall Prize are Eric Fu and Harlan Campbell. Their PhD supervisors are respectively Nancy Heckman and Paul Gustafson. Eric defended his PhD thesis in February and Harlan will be defending soon. Both have accomplished independent research in their theses with several published and/or submitted papers.

Professor Jim Zidek awarded the 2019 David Rees Distinguished Visiting Fellowship
Professor Jim Zidek has been awarded the 2019 David Rees Distinguished Visiting Fellowship that enables mathematical scientists to visit the University of Exeter. The announcement for the Award states that “during the period of their visit at the University, David Rees Fellows will:

Statistics Associate Professor Alex Bouchard-Côté wins Young Faculty Award
Statistics Associate Professor Alex Bouchard-Côté has just received the 2018 UBC/PIMS Mathematical Sciences Young Faculty Award.
In addition to receiving a monetary award, Alex will give a PIMS-UBC Distinguished Colloquium lecture in the fall. You can read PIMS's announcement, which includes some nice background information, here: https://www.pims.math.ca/news/alexandre-bouchard-c%C3%B4t%C3%A9-wins-2018-pims-ubc-young-faculty-award.
Congratulations, Alex!

Call for Nominations: Department of Statistics Award in Data Science 2019
The Department of Statistics is soliciting nominations for the Department of Statistics Award in Data Science, an award to recognize the importance of developing and applying tools to answer important questions through the analysis of data. This $1,000 award is offered to an undergraduate or graduate student who has demonstrated initiative and creativity in making outstanding contributions in the field of Data Science.

Assistant Professor Sara Mostafavi awarded CIFAR Artificial Intelligence Chair
Assistant Professor Sara Mostafavi has been awarded a Canada CIFAR Artificial Intelligence (CCAI) Chair!

Thé Ha wins Faculty of Science Excellence in Service Award
Our IT Director, Thé Ha (a.k.a. help@stat.ubc.ca!), is a 2018 recipient of a Faculty of Science Excellence in Service Award!

Free Statistical Consultation: November 2018 Call
The Statistics Department offers several types of free statistical consultation, via STAT 450/550, SOS and STAT 551, as follows:

UBC's first B.Sc. Data Science course is starting January 2019
Nowadays, data is everywhere and making sense of it can be the key to success. To keep up with the world, students need to learn the skills to extract relevant information from data. The Department of Statistics is excited to provide UBC’s first undergraduate Data Science course, DSCI 100 - Introduction to Data Science, starting January 2019. See https://www.ubyssey.ca/science/new-ubc-data-science-course/.

Free Public Lecture by Jeffery Rosenthal
Jeffrey Rosenthal, author of the best-selling book Struck by Lightning: The Curious World of Probabilities and professor at the University of Toronto, speaks:
Born on Friday the Thirteenth: The Curious World of Probabilities
Monday, July 30, 2018: 7pm – 8pm
Vancouver Convention Centre, West Ballroom A
You don’t need to register; you don’t need to pay anything.