Volume 33 Issue 4 IMS Bulletin July/August 2004 A Message from the (new) President Louis H Y Chen, Director of the Institute CONTENTS for Mathematical Sciences at the 2-3 Members’ News; National University of Singapore, is the Contacting the IMS IMS President for 2004–05. He says: hen I was approached by the 4 Profi le: C F Jeff Wu WCommittee on Nominations in 5 IMS Election Results: January 2003 and asked if I would be President-Elect and Council willing to be a possible nominee for IMS 7 UK Research Assessment; President-Elect, I felt that it was a great Tweedie Travel Award honor for me. However, I could not help 8 Mini-meeting Reports but think that the outcome of the nomi- nation process would most likely be a 10 Project Euclid & Google nominee who is based in the US, because, 11 Calls Roundup except for Willem van Zwet, Nancy Reid of probabilists and statisticians. 14 IMS Meetings and Bernard Silverman, all the 68 past Although IMS is US-based, its infl u- Presidents of IMS were US-based. When ence goes far beyond the US due to its 20 Other Meetings and I was fi nally chosen as the nominee for several fi rst-rate publications and many Announcements President-Elect, I was pleased, not so high quality meetings. Also, IMS has 23 Employment much because I was chosen, but because I reduced membership dues for individuals Opportunities took it as a sign that the outlook of IMS in developing countries to encourage 25 International Calendar of was becoming more international. them to join. But we can do more to help Statistical Events In the year before I succeeded Terry the developing countries, and at the same 27 Information for Speed as President in July 2004, IMS time publicize IMS and attract more new Advertisers forged closer ties and cooperation with members, by organizing lectures to large the Bernoulli Society, and also organized audiences in these countries. and planned more meetings outside the I will introduce a project which I will US. I am happy that these are happening call the “IMS Lecture Program”, whereby and I will do whatever I can in my capac- IMS will provide funding for prominent ity as President to continue to develop probabilists and statisticians to give these eff orts towards internationalism. lectures in developing countries, targeted But I think that at the same time at researchers as well as graduate students. we should make eff orts to involve more Such visits will benefi t a large number people outside the US in committee of researchers and graduate students in work and to serve as offi cers, although developing countries who cannot aff ord the Council and some committees have to travel overseas for scientifi c meetings. always had non-US-based members. I hope that this small step by IMS will With more committee members outside help warm up the cold climate that the US, IMS can benefi t from new and has, as Terry alerted us in the last issue, diff erent perspectives and will be better unexpectedly seeped into the scientifi c equipped to serve the world community world. ※ IMS 2 . IMS Bulletin Volume 33 . Issue 4 Bulletin Volume 33, Issue 4 July/August 2004 Member News ISSN 1544-1881 David Aldous elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences David Aldous, Professor of Statistics at University of California, Berkeley, has been elected Contact Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is among 178 new Fellows Information elected this year, bringing current membership to over 4,500—a figure which includes more than 150 Nobel laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners. “I am honored to welcome Bulletin Editor Bernard Silverman these outstanding and influential individuals to the nation’s oldest and most illustrious Assistant Editor Tati Howell learned society,” said Academy President Patricia Meyer Spacks. “These new members have made extraordinary contributions to their fields and disciplines through their commitment To contact the IMS Bulletin: to the advancement of scholarly and creative work in every field and profession.” Election Send by email: [email protected] to the Academy has always been one of the highest honors in the United States. or mail to: IMS Bulletin Charles Newman elected to National Academy of Sciences 20 Shadwell Uley, Dursley Professor Charles M Newman, Director of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences GL11 5BW at New York University, has been elected Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. UK He is one of 72 new fellows elected “in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research”. Election to membership in the Academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer. Those elected To contact the IMS regarding your dues, membership, subscriptions, orders or this year bring the total number of active members to 1,949. The National Academy of change of address: Sciences is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for general welfare. Institute of Mathematical Statistics Dues and Subscriptions Office 9650 Rockville Pike, Suite L2310 Julian Besag elected Fellow of the Royal Society Bethesda, Julian E Besag, Professor of Statistics, University of Washington, has been elected Fellow MD 20814-3998 of the Royal Society. He is one of 44 new Fellows elected this year. His citation reads: “He USA is distinguished for his pioneering work on the statistical theory and analysis of spatial processes, t 301.634.7029 especially conditional lattice systems. His work has been seminal in recent statistical develop- f 301.634.7099 ments ranging from image analysis to Markov chain Monte Carlo methods”. A profile will e [email protected] appear in the next issue. To contact the IMS regarding any other Ahuja “a Great Mind” Belgian Academy honors Bruss matter, including advertising, copyright Dr Jagdish Chand Ahuja of Portland IMS Fellow Professor F Thomas Bruss has permission, offprint orders, copyright State University is listed in the American been awarded the 14th Jacques-Deruyts transfer, societal matters, meetings, fellows nominations and content of Biographical Institute’s Great Minds of the Prize of the Royal Academy of Sciences publications: 21st Century (2003 Edition) in recognition of Belgium for the period 2000-2004. Executive Director, Elyse Gustafson of his “remarkable achievements in the field This Prize is awarded every four years for IMS Business Office of statistical distribution theory”. distinguished contributions to a field of PO Box 22718 Mathematics. Thomas studied Mathematics Beachwood, in Germany and the UK, and worked in OH 44122 Distinguished Professor Cressie Belgium and USA before being appointed USA Noel Cressie, professor of statistics and Professor of Mathematics at the Université t 216.295.2340 f 216.295.5661 director of the Program in Spatial Statistics Libre de Bruxelles in 1993, where he is now e [email protected] and Environmental Sciences at The Chairman of the Mathematics Department. Ohio State University, has been named His research is in probability models, Distinguished Professor of Mathematical optimal stopping, limit theorems and and Physical Sciences at Ohio State. branching processes. Executive Committee July/August . 2004 IMS Bulletin . 3 President Terry Speed [email protected] President-Elect Louis Chen [email protected] Member News Past President Raghu Varadhan [email protected] Keith Worsley named 2004 SSC Gold Medalist Executive Secretary Alicia Carriquiry The Statistical Society of Canada has awarded its 2004 Gold Medal We regret to [email protected] Keith Worsley, to James McGill Professor at the Department of announce the Treasurer Julia Norton Mathematics and Statistics, McGill University. The medal, intended deaths of three [email protected] to honor current leaders in their fields, is awarded to a person who IMS Fellows: Program Secretary Andrew Nobel has made substantial contributions to statistics or probability, either Joseph L Doob, [email protected] to mathematical developments or in applied work. Keith received I Richard Savage his PhD from Auckland University, New Zealand, in 1978 and and Seymour IMS Editors has taught at McGill since. His research interests are concerned Geisser. Their Annals of Statistics Morris Eaton with the geometry of random images in astrophysics, and brain obituaries will [email protected] mapping. He has published over 120 papers in statistical and medi- appear in future & Jianqing Fan [email protected] cal journals, and has supervised six PhD students and four MSc issues. students since 1997. Annals of Probability Steven Lalley [email protected] Honorary Doctor of Science for Leo Goodman Statisticians Honored at Rochester Annals of Applied Probability Robert Adler The University of Michigan has conferred W Jackson Hall and Siddhartha Dalal [email protected] on IMS Fellow Leo A Goodman an honor- were among four honorees at the Doctoral Statistical Science George Casella ary Doctor of Science degree for his “major Degrees Ceremony at the University of [email protected]fl.edu contributions to statistics and social and Rochester on May 15. Hall, an IMS mem- IMS Lecture Notes – Monograph Series behavioral science, and in particular for his ber for 53 years and a Fellow for 37, was Richard Vitale development of new methods for the analysis given the University Award for Lifetime [email protected] of survey data as a sophisticated branch of Achievement in Graduate Education. He Managing Editor - Statistics statistical science.” In his long career, Leo was cited for his 35 years of mentoring Paul Shaman Goodman has had a profound impact on graduate students in statistics at the [email protected] methods of statistical analysis used in the University. Each of Hall’s PhD recipients Managing Editor - Probability social and behavioral sciences.