We are thrilled to announce that Marie Auger-Méthé, Associate Professor in Statistics and the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, has been named one of the new members of the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists by the Royal Society of Canada (RSC). This prestigious recognition honours the emerging generation of Canadian intellectual leadership across various disciplines.

The RSC’s announcement highlights Marie’s groundbreaking interdisciplinary research:

“Marie Auger-Méthé is a highly original interdisciplinary researcher whose work in the development and application of novel statistical methods provides impactful insights into the ecology, movement, health, and behaviour of animals. Her research advances fundamental scientific knowledge crucial for effective wildlife management and conservation policies. Her contributions offer new perspectives on how ecologically important species, particularly charismatic marine species, respond to global environmental changes.”

Marie will be officially welcomed into the RSC as a 2024 member at the RSC Celebration of Excellence and Engagement in November.

Congratulations, Marie!

If you’d like to read more about Marie’s wonderful news, please see the following:

https://research.ubc.ca/fifteen-ubc-faculty-members-elected-royal-society-canada

https://rsc-src.ca/en/news/royal-society-canada-announces-its-2024-cohort-fellows-and-college-members

https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/24_New%20Members_EN_0.pdf

This year’s recipients of the Dr. John and Barbara Petkau Scholarships are Jessie Liang and Jade Bouchard!

Jessie Liang is a third-year Statistics major student, excelling in her academic performance and having received multiple scholarships, including Outstanding International Student Award in 2022 and J. Fred Muir Memorial Scholarship in Science in 2023. Jessie completed four courses in the summer of 2023 to fulfill the pre-requisites for Statistics 3^rd year courses. During the 2023-24 academic year, she took six courses in both Term 1 and 2. By the end of her second year at UBC, she had successfully completed the core requirements for her third year. Her grades are consistently excellent, with nearly all A+ grades.

Jade Bouchard, a fourth-year Statistics major, is in the co-op program and has finished most of her 4^th year STAT requirements with grades that are almost uniformly A+. During her co-op terms at STEMCELL Technologies as a Pricing Operations Intern and at Borealis AI (RBC) as a Machine Learning Software Engineering Intern, she gained valuable experience in building scalable data pipelines. Jade looks forward to returning to RBC in 2025 as a Machine Learning Engineer.

About the Dr. John and Barbara Petkau Scholarships

In 2016, John and Barbara Petkau endowed two scholarships to recognize the academic merit of the next generation of statisticians and the impact these statisticians will have on solving world problems. One scholarship is for a student entering third year, and the other is for a student entering fourth year.

John Petkau, a professor emeritus in the Department, has contributed in many ways to the Department and the discipline with his vision and leadership, statistical expertise, generosity of time, and his mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students. John’s wife, Barbara, deserves special thanks, for generously sharing John's time with us.

See a list of previous recipients of the scholarships here.