Spring 2020
In this issue Faculty Updates
2-3
Statistics Club
4
World Statistics Day
5
Statistical Science Students
6-7
SAC and SCC
8
Thank you Donors! Greetings! Welcome to this edition of the Statistical Science newsletter! The 2019-2020 academic year has had many exciting events and will certainly be remembered as an historic year, especially with the Coronavirus pandemic. We had several exciting developments in the Fall semester including the second invited Jon A. Wellner Lecture, the new Statistics Club, and our first celebration of World Statistics Day! The Spring semester has included highlights such as the third Data Science competition and the selection of Brian Dennis as the Distinguished Faculty Award recipient for the College of Science, but things have been overshadowed lately by the Coronavirus situation. We are finishing the Spring semester with all classes moved online, as have many schools and universities. Inside you will find information on our faculty, staff, and students, as well as departmental news. If you are staying at home and have some time, you can read about our latest news and contact us with your updates for our next edition of the newsletter!
Each year the Statistical Science Department receives gifts from its alumni and friends. We are grateful to all who have contributed amounts, both large and small, to the department this year. Your generous donations support and enhance our programs. Interested in supporting the students and faculty of the Statistical Science Department? Donations can be received online or through the mail. If you would like to make a contribution to the department, please see page 8 for more Information!
Chris Williams http://www.uidaho.edu/sci/stat
Spring 2020
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Our Affiliate Faculty: Ray Dacey
Business Berna Devezer
Paul Hohenlohe is on sabbatical for the 2019-2020 academic year, working with researchers and professionals in conservation genetics in Europe. In 2019 he published over 10 scientific papers, and had two graduate students earn their degrees (one M.S., one Ph.D.) in the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology degree program at UI. He is also editing a book on applying population genomics to conservation of biodiversity, which will come out in early 2020.
Business Ray Dezzani Geography Luke Harmon Biological Sciences William Price College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
Chris Remien Mathematics
Statisicians are of course quite familiar with FisherNeyman-Pearson hypothesis testing, along with the concomitant concepts of test size, P values, power, confidence intervals, etc. Statisticians are also at home with Bayesian analysis, wielding prior and posterior distributions, Bayes factors, and Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations with skill. Now, another way to approach data analysis is emerging: evidence functions. Evidence functions are statistics for comparing two statistical models by estimating, based on data, their relative distance to the true process that generated the data. Professor Brian Dennis of the Department of Statistical Science at UI and coauthors Jose Ponciano (Univ Florida), Mark Taper (Montana State Univ), and Subhash Lele (Univ Alberta) have published a paper documenting many valuable statistical properties of evidence functions. With evidence functions, both error probabilities go to zero as sample size increases, unlike the analogous Type I and II error probabilities in hypothesis testing (in which the Type I probability remains fixed). In fact, both error probabilities for evidence functions go to zero even when the models are misspecified, a situation
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for which other statistical methods can fail catastrophically. The paper is titled "Errors in Statistical Inference Under Model Misspecification: Evidence, Hypothesis Testing, and AIC" and was published last month in the online journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. A pdf of the paper may be downloaded for free here: https://www.frontiersin.org/ articles/10.3389/fevo.2019.00372/full .
Dr. Erkan Buzbas and his colleagues published an article titled: "Scientific discovery in a model-centric framework: Reproducibility, innovation, and epistemic diversity " in Plos ONE. In this article, they present a simulationbased framework to study scientific process and statistical reproducibility, for which they provide mathematical and statistical results. They presented their work as invited speakers in the Open Science and Reproducibility Workshop organized in March 2019, in Aarhus University, Denmark, as well as in Joint Statistical Meetings.
Audrey Fu has continued working with Md. Bahadur Badsha (postdoc), Evan Martin (PhD student in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology), and Yazhuo (Brian) Deng (master’s student in Statistics, PhD student in Movement Science). Badsha and Audrey published their novel machine learning algorithm for inferring causal biological networks from genomic data in Frontiers in Genetics (https:// doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2019.00460). Badsha, Evan, and Audrey also implemented this algorithm in the R package MRPC and examined its statistical properties (https:// arxiv.org/abs/1806.01899). Together with
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their collaborators, Badsha, Rui Li (postdoc 2016-2018), and Audrey also developed deep learning algorithms for imputing highly sparse single-cell gene expression data. Their paper on these algorithms will appear in Quantitative Biology (https:// doi.org/10.1101/504977). Evan and Audrey took a Bayesian approach to causal network inference (https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.10678). Yazhuo, David Paul (Yazhuo’s PhD advisor), and Audrey developed an autoregressive structural model, which builds on the structural equation model, for longitudinal data (https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.02359). Additionally, Audrey contributed to a study on profiling certain RNA editing events in human cancers, which is published in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics (https://ascopubs.org/ doi/abs/10.1200/CCI.18.00151), and another study identifying genes that potentially regulate these RNA editing events (https:// doi.org/10.1101/812610). Audrey was an invited speaker at several conferences, such as the Western North American Region (WNAR) International Biometric Society Meeting and the Eastern North American Region (ENAR) International Biometric Society Meeting in 2019, as well as the International Chinese Statistical Association Applied Statistics Symposium in 2018. She was also invited to present the above work in the Department of Statistics at Stanford University and at California Institute of Technology in 2019, and at the Peking Union Medical College in China in 2018.
Badsha was also an invited speaker at the WNAR meeting in 2019. Additionally, both Badsha and Even presented posters on their work at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting in 2018 and 2019. The poster by Badsha and Audrey was voted the Reviewers’ Choice Poster Abstract at this meeting in 2018.
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Audrey received the Pilot Grant from the Center for Modeling Complex Interactions at UI, which funds her lab through January 2020. She also received a three-year grant as a co-investigator from NASA to study the eye health of astronauts in long -duration flights (Principle Investigator: Bryn Martin, Bioengineering at UI). Audrey and Frank Gao (Mathematics at UI) have continued co-organizing the Python for Data Science Club (mainly for undergraduate students) and the Machine Learning Working Group (mainly for graduate students and postdocs). Audrey also greatly enjoyed being the judge for the UI Data Science Competition again in 2019.
College of Science Distinguished Faculty Award Congratulations to Professor Brian Dennis on receiving the 2020 College of Science Distinguished Faculty Award.
Congratulations, Brian!
Evan received the competitive BCB Graduate Fellowship, which has partially funded his trip to the ASHG meeting in 2019 and will support his spring semester in 2020.
The past year has been business as usual for Timothy Johnson. He taught Statistical Methods (Stat 251), Applied Regression Modeling (Stat 436/516) and Survey Sampling Methods (Stat 422). For research he has been wrapping up a few collaborative projects with colleagues in the College of Natural Resources at the University of Idaho and in the College of the Environment at Washington State University. This summer he started a new project with a former student on hierarchical models for fish harvest and tag reporting rates. Tim has also resumed working on a old project concerning a new family of models for ranking data based on a Thurstonian one-dimensional unfolding representation
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Honorary Alumna Award Congratulations to Statistical Science and Mathematics staff member Jana Joyce on being awarded the 2020 Honorary Alumna Award from the University of Idaho Alumni Association. Congratulations, Jana!
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Jon A. Wellner Lecture The Jon A. Wellner Lecture was established by Jon and Vera Wellner to provide educational experiences outside of the classroom for students and faculty and to help raise the profile of the University of Idaho by bringing well-known experts in the fields of Statistics and Probability to Moscow.
A new club for statistical science students, the Statistics Club, was established in Fall 2019. The first meeting took place on December 11. Organized by Maria Nystrom, UI Statistics Club President, the inaugural meeting featured a focus on Statistics History Day. Participants brought statistics trivia (about statisticians and statistical methods) to share, enjoyed delicious pizza, and discussed ideas for the future of the club. The club met again in February 2020 to celebrate their love for statistics! For this meeting participants shared statistical topics that they adore. These activities are possible because of generous donations from alumni and friends to the Statistical Science Gift Fund. If you would like to donate to this fund, see page 8 for more information. We look forward to many more fun events with the Statistics Club! If you’re interested in learning more about this club, email statclub@uidaho.edu.
The 2019 Jon A. Wellner Lecture was held on Thursday, September 24th. Professor Richard J. Samworth gave a talk titled “Nonparametric Inference Under Shape Constraints: Past, Present and Future.”
Some of the Stat Club meeting attendees.
A video recording of the lecture, as well as information about the Jon A. Wellner Lecture, can be found at: https://www.uidaho.edu/ sci/math/news/wellnerlecture We look forward to the 2020 Jon A. Wellner Lecture. Watch for more information on this lecture!
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On October 17, 2019 faculty and students in the Department of Statistical Science celebrated World Statistics Day with a meeting. Established on October 20, 2010, World Statistics Day is officially celebrated worldwide every five years. In light of our new undergraduate statistics program and potential activities for our newly founded Statistics Club, we recognized the World Statistics Day on a smaller scale this year. This year’s celebration, organized by Dr. Erkan Buzbas, featured demonstrations of the De Moivre-Laplace Theorem and the Central Limit Theorem with a variety of Galton Boards. Participants also enjoyed statistics trivia, lively discussions, and delicious food.
We look forward to celebrating World Statistics Day in 2020!
A few examples of the Galton Boards that were demonstrated.
The Graduate Data Analytics certificate has been developed to train students to manage and analyze data, and interpret results from data analyses, particularly from large data sets. The certificate leverages the expertise from faculty in several units to give students a strong interdisciplinary background in this emerging area. The three units primarily involved are Statistical Science, Computer Science, and Business. Each department offers a new course on some aspect of analytics. For more information, visit the certificate webpage: http://www.uidaho.edu/sci/stat/academics/certificate-data-analytics
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Data Science Competition We are pleased to announce the 2020 UI Data Science Competition, sponsored by the College of Science. For this competition, participants will develop a machine learning model that can automatically grade 20000 hand-written calculus quizzes. The competition is currently open and accepting virtual submissions! The competition runs March 12th to April 30th. Anyone with a University of Idaho email address is welcome to participate. However, prizes will be limited to currently registered undergraduate and graduate students. More information about this competition is available on the website: https://dscomp.nkn.uidaho.edu/
We look forward to seeing your entries!
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College of Science Dean’s Graduate Award Congratulations to graduate student Gavin Whitesitt on receiving a 2020 College of Science Dean’s Graduate Award. Congratulations, Gavin!
Colby Bland is from Livermore, California. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Ecology and Conservation Biology from UI. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistics, in the Consulting Option. He intends to do an internship over the summer, either in a lab or with a natural resource organization, to help refine his future career focus.
Ernestina Boateng is from Kumasi, Ghana. She received a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistical Science, working with Dr. Michelle Wiest on Small Area Estimates of Suicide in Idaho. Xihua “Jake” Chen is from Lewiston, Idaho. He received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from UI in May 2016. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistical Science, in the Consulting Option.
We want to hear from you! Send us an update on your life after UI. We’d love to hear about career updates, family news, and other highlights. Email us at: stat@uidaho.edu
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Erin Clancey is originally from Anacortes, Washington, but has been living in Moscow for 12 years, so this is home! She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Ecology and Evolution from UC Santa Cruz. She also has a Ph.D. in Biology from UI. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistical Science, working with Paul Hohenlohe, Luke Harmon, and Tim Johnson on modeling the conditions that promote microgeographic adaptation to environmental heterogeneity in a small endemic population of Island Scrub Jays. Her career goals are to continue to teach courses as an instructor and get a position as research faculty.
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Matthew Fagnan is from Seattle, Washington. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Bioengineering. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistics. After graduation he hopes to work as a Data Scientist. Dylan Hull-Nye earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics at the University of San Francisco. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistics. He would like to work in Biostatistics applied to medicine and disease modeling and clinical trials. Jon Isaacson is from Orem, Utah. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistics. Cary Lindsey is from Tupelo, Mississippi. She received a BS in Geology. In May 2018, she earned a PhD in Geology at UI, under the direction of Dr. Jerry Fairley. Her dissertation was titled “Exploratory and Spatial Statistics for Evaluating Heat and Mass Transfer in Geothermal Areas.” She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistics. Cary plans to pursue a career in academia in Geology/ Statistics focusing on spatial and geostatistics. Her work to this point has focused on characterizing hydrothermal systems. Alex Kagoda is from Jinja, Uganda. He received an undergraduate degree in Economics and Statistics From Kyambogo University in Kampala, Uganda. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistical Science. After graduation he hopes to work as a biostatistician.
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Jarred Kvamme is from Helena, Montana. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Integrative Biology and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, both from the University of Montana. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistics. Martyna Lukaszewicz was born in Poland and moved to Seattle during her teen years. She received a B.S. in Biology from Washington State University in nearby Pullman, Washington. She earned a M.S. in Statistics at UI in 2018 under the thesis option. She is currently pursuing a Doctoral degree at UI in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. Maria Eugenia Nystrom is from Saint Paul, Minnesota. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Statistical Science, with a minor in Mathematics, from UI. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistics, in the Consulting Option. Maria is also the president and founding member of the Statistics Club at UI. Kylie Reich is from Nuevo, California. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Humboldt State University. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistics. After graduation she hopes to work for the U.S. Forest Service. Aakansha Solomon is from India. She is currently working on two Master’s degrees at UI. She is finishing up her thesis and on track to gradu-
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ate with an M.S. in Environmental Science in Spring 2020. She is also currently pursuing an M.S. in Statistical Science. Brandi Torrevillas is from California. She received a B.S. in Animal Biology from University of California Davis. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistical Science.
Chenhui Wang is from Beijing, China. He graduated from WSU with a B.S. in Material Science and Engineering and a minor in Math in August 2019. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Statistical Science, in the Thesis Option Gavin Whitesitt is from Rathdrum, Idaho. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics from UI and an Associate’s degree from North Idaho College. He is pursuing a Master's degree in Statistics, working with Dr. Erkan Buzbas, and the Graduate Data Analytics Certificate. After finishing his degree, Gavin would like to be a data scientist. Marc Wiseman is from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He holds multiple degrees: B.A. English (University of Washington); M.A. English (Loyola Marymount University); B.S. Biology (University of Washington). He is currently pursuing two graduate degrees at UI: M.S. Natural Resources (Wildlife Sciences) and M.S. in Statistical Science.
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Recent Graduates Fall 2018 Marie Tree, Certificate
Spring 2019 Nicholas Bowersox, Certificate Taylor Bowles, B.S. Rosebella Capio, M.S. Vignesh Muralidharan, M.S. Peng Song, M.S. Luke Sturgeon, B.S.
Summer 2019 Meghan Foard, Certificate Justice Nii-Ayitey, M.S.
Fall 2019 Yazhuo Deng, M.S. Shayne Gustafson, B.S. Maria Nystrom, B.S. Fadhil Salih, Certificate
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As a service, the Department of Statistical Science offers the Statistics Assistance Center (SAC) to help students taking Stat 251, 301, and 431 by providing individual tutors on a drop-in basis. We have two teaching assistant positions for students working exclusively in the SAC. Our remaining teaching assistants all spend time working in the SAC in lieu of office hours.
The Statistical Consulting Center continues to receive numerous visits each year, advising clients from Anthropology to Civil Engineering to Fire Science. To keep up with demand for statistical collaborators, we are working to expand our team and offer long-term statistical support for research. Our graduate students continue to do an excellent job of providing free consultation to UI’s diverse researchers.
The SAC is located on the 2nd floor of the library. Follow the "Drop-In Tutoring" signs. Go straight after entering the second floor of the library, the SAC tables will be in the Drop-In Tutoring area to the right.
The SCC is located on the first floor of the Integrated Research and Innovation Center (IRIC) in room 119. We hope to continue to see exciting and interesting projects from across our campuses.
For more information, visit: http://www.uidaho.edu/sci/stat/about/sac
For more information, visit: http://www.uidaho.edu/sci/stat/about/scc
Yes, I want to support the students and faculty in the Department of Statistical Science! You can donate online or by mail. To donate online, visit: https://www.givecampus.com/schools/UniversityofIdaho To donate by mail, please fill out this form and send it, with a check, to the UI Foundation: My gift of $_________is enclosed (Please make checks payable to University of Idaho Foundation) Please direct my gift to: Department of Statistical Science Name _______________________________________________________________________________ Address _____________________________________________________________________________ City _________________________________________ State ______________ Zip _________________ Phone _______________________________________ Email __________________________________ University of Idaho Degree _______________________________________________ Year__________ News (career, family, etc.)_______________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ Please return to: University of Idaho Foundation, 875 Perimeter Dr. MS 3143, Moscow, ID 83844-3143
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