Knighthood for Bernard Silverman
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Volume 47 • Issue 2 IMS Bulletin March 2018 Knighthood for Bernard Silverman Former IMS President, Annals of Statistics and IMS Bulletin editor CONTENTS Bernard Silverman was knighted in the UK’s 2018 New Year 1 Bernard Silverman knighted Honours List for public service and services to Science. Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb and Beatles drummer Ringo Starr (among 2 Members’ news: David Banks, Adrian Smith others) also received the same honour. Sir Bernard Silverman’s research has ranged widely across IMS Statement on Bernard Silverman 3 theoretical and practical aspects of statistics, and is recognized as a Professional Conduct at Meetings; awards for ISI pioneer of computational statistics. He has published extensively, covering aspects from Director Bandyopadhyay the fundamental mathematical properties of new methods to computer packages for their implementation, and has also collaborated with researchers in many other scien- 4 Medallion Lecture previews: tific fields and provided statistical consultancy in industry, commerce and Government. Richard Samworth, Thomas Mikosch Following the award of a Gold Medal at the 1970 International Mathematical Olympiad, Bernard studied Mathematics and then Statistics at Cambridge University. Recent papers: Electronic 6 In parallel with his doctoral research into computational statistics, he co-designed the Journal of Statistics; Statistics Surveys. Update: Observational first pocket programmable calculator, the Sinclair Cambridge Programmable. He went Studies on to senior academic and leadership posts at the Universities of Bath, Bristol and Oxford, and also spent substantial time as a visitor at Stanford and other universities. 7 Pro Bono Statistics: Yoram From 2010–2017 he worked as Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government’s Gat on Democracy and Statistical Sampling Home Office. He now works freelance, including research, charity trusteeship, consul- tancy, and advice to Government. XL-Files: It’s hard to publish, 9 His main current research activity is in modern slavery, building on his work for but impossible to unpublish the Home Office in producing the first scientific estimate of the prevalence of modern 10 COPSS Presidents’ Award slavery in the UK. His estimate of 10,000 to 13,000 victims played a pivotal role in the winner Tyler VanderWeele launch of the strategy leading to the Modern Slavery Act 2015, and he is now involved 13 Student Puzzle Corner 20 in developing the methodology further and in applying it world-wide. His other main interest is in security, as chair of the panel set up to give specialist 14 Candidate statements for 2018 IMS Elections advice to the senior judges who provide independent oversight of the use of investi- gatory powers by intelligence agencies, police forces and other public authorities. In Meetings 21 addition, his concerns include the modernization of the census, research integrity, 26 Employment Opportunities scientific matters relevant to public policy generally, and diversity and equality issues. As well as being an IMS Fellow, 27 International Calendar of Meetings Bernard (we should now say Sir Bernard) Cartoon: Neil Kerber (with permission) is a Fellow of the UK Royal Society and 31 Information for Advertisers the Academy of Social Sciences, and a recipient of the COPSS Presidents’ Read it online: Award and the RSS Guy Medals in Silver and Bronze. He has been awarded the bulletin.imstat.org honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the Universities of St Andrews, Lancaster, Bath and Bristol. IMS Bulletin 2 . IMS Bulletin Volume 47 . Issue 2 Volume 47 • Issue 2 March 2018 IMS Members’ News ISSN 1544-1881 David Banks named as new SAMSI Director Contact information The Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI) has announced the IMS Bulletin Editor: Vlada Limic hiring of a new director. David Banks, Duke University, has assumed the role, replacing Assistant Editor: Tati Howell Richard Smith. SAMSI is one of eight mathematical Contributing Editors: Anirban DasGupta, sciences institutes created by the National Science Yoram Gat, David Hand, Takis Konstan- topoulos, Xiao-Li Meng, Regina Nuzzo, Foundation, and it is the only one in which statistics plays Dimitris Politis, Kavita Ramanan and a large role. Terry Speed David Banks lays out his initial agenda below and asks for your feedback and suggestions about programs on Contact the IMS Bulletin by email: e [email protected] subjects that interest you. He says, “SAMSI’s future plan w http://bulletin.imstat.org is to continue doing what it does well, which is fostering https://www.facebook.com/IMSTATI research and new careers at the interface of mathematics David Banks Contact the IMS regarding your dues, and statistics. But it will also move in some new directions. membership, subscriptions, orders or First, we will place greater emphasis upon data science, and reach out to partner more change of address: closely with researchers in computer science and related fields. Secondly, we will explore IMS Dues and Subscriptions Office moving towards shorter programs—instead of the year-long programs that are the current 9650 Rockville Pike, Suite L3503A Bethesda, MD 20814-3998 practice, SAMSI intends to pursue some USA semester-long programs (similar to the t 877-557-4674 [toll-free in USA] Isaac Newton Institute). One consequence t +1 216 295 5661[international] of this is that the number of programs f +1 301 634 7099 will increase, creating more opportunities e [email protected] for scientists to propose and lead these Contact the IMS regarding any other initiatives. matter, including advertising, copyright “Currently, SAMSI is finishing two programs: one on Mathematical and Statistical permission, offprint orders, copyright Methods for Climate and the Earth System, and one on Quasi-Monte Carlo and High transfer, societal matters, meetings, fellows Dimensional Sampling Methods for Applied Mathematics. Next year, there will be two nominations and content of publications: nine-month programs, one on Statistical, Mathematical and Computational Methods for Executive Director, Elyse Gustafson Precision Medicine, and the other on Model Uncertainty: Mathematical and Statistical. IMS Business Office PO Box 22718, Beachwood After that, SAMSI will move towards shorter programs, and is currently entertaining pro- OH 44122, USA posals for programs on Causal Inference and on Games, Risk, and Decision Theory. t 877-557-4674 [toll-free in USA] “Creating a good program requires significant forward planning. One needs to line up t +1 216 295 5661[international] a small core of prominent researchers (often on sabbatical) who are willing to visit SAMSI f +1 216 295 5661 and the three local universities (North Carolina State University, UNC–Chapel Hill, and e [email protected] Duke University) for extended periods of time, and to work with the SAMSI postdoctoral Executive Committee fellows. One also needs to enroll a large number of researchers who are willing to attend President: Alison Etheridge and present at SAMSI workshops, to help frame the research agenda and to get the appro- [email protected] priate conversations started. This is substantial work, but it can help build a career and be President-Elect: Xiao-Li Meng [email protected] professionally gratifying. And SAMSI generally provides travel support to the workshops Past President: Jon Wellner and a limited amount of support for long-term visitors, which helps with the recruitment.” [email protected] He added, “But the real reasons to lead a research program are that, one, it is a unique Treasurer: Zhengjun Zhang opportunity to personally shape the future of the discipline, and two, it is a lot of fun!” [email protected] If you have any tentative ideas for a future program, please contact the SAMSI director- Program Secretary: Judith Rousseau [email protected] ate: [email protected] or go to www.samsi.info. Executive Secretary: Edsel Peña [email protected] = access published papers online IMS Journals and Publications March . 2018 IMS Bulletin . 3 Annals of Statistics: Ed George and Tailen Hsing http://imstat.org/aos http://projecteuclid.org/aos Annals of Applied Statistics: Tilmann Gneiting http://imstat.org/aoas More News http://projecteuclid.org/aoas Annals of Probability: Maria Eulalia Vares http://imstat.org/aop Adrian Smith appointed to lead UK’s Alan Turing Institute http://projecteuclid.org/aop The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science, has appointed Annals of Applied Probability: Bálint Tóth http://imstat.org/aap Professor Sir Adrian Smith FRS as Institute Director. Professor Smith, currently Vice- http://projecteuclid.org/aoap Chancellor at the University of London, will take up his new role later this year. Statistical Science: Cun-Hui Zhang Howard Covington, Chair of The Alan Turing Institute, said: “I am delighted that http://imstat.org/sts http://projecteuclid.org/ss Adrian has agreed to lead the Institute. He not only has a formidable academic record and IMS Collections a deep commitment to advancing scientific excellence but also a huge breadth of experience http://imstat.org/publications/imscollections.htm http://projecteuclid.org/imsc leading world-class research organisations and working with and within government.” IMS Monographs and IMS Textbooks: David Cox Adrian Smith said: “The Alan Turing Institute has a unique role to play in ensuring that http://imstat.org/cup/ the UK fully exploits the potential of advances in data science and AI to transform business