Andy Leung receives SSC’s Pierre Robillard Award
We are very proud of our PhD alumnus Andy Leung for having received the Pierre Robillard Award from the Statistical Society of Canada (SSC). This award recognizes “the best PhD thesis in probability or statistics defended at a Canadian university during the previous year”. Andy won this prize for his thesis “Robust Estimation and Inference under Cellwise and Casewise Contamination”, which was supervised by Professor Ruben Zamar.
Fred (Hongyang) Zhang Wins 2016-17 Data Science Award
We are pleased to announce that Fred (Hongyang) Zhang has won the Department’s 2016-17 Data Science Award.
Eric Fu Wins Department's GTA Award
Graduate Teaching Assistants are crucial to the Department’s teaching activities. Every year since 2011, we have recognized GTA excellence via the Statistics Department Graduate Teaching Award.
Yang (Seagle) Liu Receives Marshall Prize
The recipient of this year’s Marshall Prize is Yang (Seagle) Liu.
Department statisticians contribute once again to the study of multiple sclerosis
ASDa staff and recent MSc graduate Jeff Bone developed and executed the detailed statistical analysis plan for a recently reported study about the controversial "liberation therapy", finding no significant impact of the therapy. This work adds to the many ways Statistics Department members have contributed to medical research into this debilitating disease. Indeed, in 2014, Professor John Petkau received the Statistical Society of Canada's Impact Award, largely for such work. To read more about this study, please see
Kevin Multani receives full funding from CANSSI and SAMSI to attend SAMSI workshop
Kevin Multani has received full funding from CANSSI and SAMSI to attend a SAMSI Interdisciplinary Workshop for Undergraduate Students, from May 14 – 19. The workshop is an introduction to applied mathematical and statistical research in the area of Astronomy and Optimization.
Using data for social good: Microsoft funds UBC and UW
Microsoft has provided $1 million to fund UBC and the University of Washington in a data science initiative, the Cascadia Urban Analytics Cooperative. As UBC President Ono said in the UBC press release, which gives details of the initiative, "Thanks to this generous gift from Microsoft, our two universities are poised to help transform the Cascadia region into a technological hub comparable to Silicon Valley and Boston".
UBC Science undergrad students shine in Actuarial Science!
Undergraduates Katie Li (Statistics), Jenny Song (Mathematics), and David Yin (Statistics and Computer Science) won first place in the ANÉA-ASNA Case Competition 2017 (ASNA = Actuarial Students National Association). They beat out 10 other teams, with their development of a method for estimating an insurer’s liability from future claims.
See a photo on the UBC Science Facebook page.
Rick White Memorial Fund
The Rick White Memorial Fund was established late last year, to honour Rick’s memory. Rick, who passed away September 2, 2016, was a long time member of the department, an accomplished statistical consultant and data scientist, and a wonderful mentor, leader, and colleague.
You can learn more about the fund and about Rick on the department web page:
and on
Thorne-Tanabe Graduate Entrance Scholarship Recipients
This year, we were honoured by the generosity of Anona Thorne and Takao Tanabe, who established the Anona Thorne and Takao Tanabe Graduate Entrance Scholarship. Anona Thorne (BA '91 Mathematics; MSc '93 Statistics) is a double alumna of UBC and went on to an interesting career using her statistics training at the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network at Saint Paul's Hospital in Vancouver. Takao Tanabe is an internationally acclaimed Canadian painter.