The Journal of Statistical Software has just published a Festschrift for Jan de Leeuw
The 73rd volume of the Journal of Statistical Software is a Festschrift for Jan de Leeuw and a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the journal. See it at: https://www.jstatsoft.org/issue/view/v073
UCLA Statistics PhD alumnus Nathan Yau named as the #1 influential rock star of Big Data
See full story here.
VCLA’s Efforts in Artificial Intelligence are Profiled in the Daily Bruin
An new article in the Daily Bruin discusses the efforts of VCLA in artificial intelligence. The group is programming a robot named Tony to have the reasoning and perception of a human. Rather than the deep learning approach to AI, they are using natural language programming (NLP) to train Tony. See the details here.
Master of Applied Statistics Program approved with first students in Fall 2016!
We are excited to announce that our Master of Applied Statistics program has received final approval from the UC President and becomes the newest program offered by the department.
The Master of Applied Statistics (MAS) program was created in response to the increasingly high demand from students seeking a terminal master’s degree in data science and quantitative analytics.
The MAS program will prepare students for work in industry through an emphasis on methods and theory commonly used in applications. The MAS will cater primarily to part-time students. Courses for the new program will be offered in the evening, so that professionals can continue working while completing their degrees. The degree will require a thesis project that will involve working closely with an industry partner and a faculty member to solve a real scientific or business problem. This will
often be in the field where the student is working, thus deepening their understanding of it. The Department has various business, industry and government partners to provide internships, thesis topics, support for their employees, and job prospects for graduating students.
Applications will be accepted starting in the late Fall of 2015 for students wishing to begin the program in the Fall of 2016.
We welcome companies or agencies that are interested in working with the MAS Program.
For full details please visit the new MAS website.
Professor Judea Pearl Co-authors a Basic Book on Causal Inference in Statistics
A new book "Causal Inference in Statistics - A Primer" by J. Pearl, M. Glymour and N. Jewell is now available both on Kindle and in print.
http://www.amazon.com/Causality-A-Primer-Judea-Pearl/dp/1119186846
This book introduces core elements of causal inference into undergraduate and lower-division graduate classes in statistics and data-intensive sciences. The aim is to provide students with an understanding of how data are generated and interpreted, at the earliest stage of their statistics education. To that end, the book empowers students with models and tools for answering nontrivial causal questions using vivid examples and simple mathematics. Topics include causal models, model testing, effects of interventions, mediation analysis, and reasoning with counterfactuals, in both linear and nonparametric systems.
The Table of Contents, Preface and excerpts from the four chapters can be viewed here:
http://bayes.cs.ucla.edu/PRIMER/
A book website, providing answers to homework and computer programs for simulation and inference (using dagitty) is currently under construction.
Professor Song-Chun Zhu and Collaborators Use NewsScape Video Archive to Analyze Social and Political Communications
UCLA Statistics and Communication Studies professors are working on statistically analysing thousands of hours of news clips to better understand the nature of human communication. The project is a collaboration among social and political scientists, statisticians, linguists and computer scientists.
One product has been the Viz 2016 website that focuses on understanding the news streams from the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
More details are available in this Daily Bruin article.
UCLA Joint Statistics and Communication Studies Faculty Search
Open-ranked faculty position (tenure-track Assistant Professor or tenured Associate/Full Professor) split in the Department of Statistics (50%) and Department of Communication Studies (50%) at the University of California, Los Angeles. We seek outstanding applicants contributing to the cutting-edge development of the intersection between machine learning and large datasets of multimodal human communication in social and mass media. We welcome applicants whose experience in research, teaching and service has prepared them to contribute to UCLA’s commitment to excellence and diversity. Ph.D. in Statistics, Communication, or a related field is required by date of anticipated appointment of June 30, 2016. Salary will be commensurate with education and experience. Please refer to Tracking Job #JPF01896 on all correspondence.
Reviews for the position will commence on Feb. 1, 2016 and will continue until a successful candidate is identified. Interested applicants should apply at UCLA Academic Recruit at:
https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/apply/JPF01896
The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy see: UC Nondiscrimination & Affirmative Action Policy at
http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct
Applicants should submit:
1) Curriculum vitae
2) Cover letter describing how their qualifications and interests would fit with the position description
3) Two representative publications (or preprints)
4) Statement of research
5) Statement of teaching
6) Three-four letters of recommendation (or for especially distinguished figures, a list of 3-4 individuals who can serve as a reference)
All inquiries may be sent to Chie Ryu at chie.ryu@stat.ucla.edu.
UCLA Statistics/Mathematics Faculty Search
Open-ranked faculty position (tenure-track Assistant Professor or tenured Associate/Full Professor) split in the Department of Statistics (50%) and Department of Mathematics (50%) at the University of California, Los Angeles. We seek outstanding applicants contributing to the cutting edge development of machine learning, big data or data science. We welcome applicants whose experience in research, teaching and service has prepared them to contribute to UCLA’s commitment to excellence and diversity. Ph.D. in Mathematics, Statistics, or a related field is required by date of anticipated appointment of July 1, 2016. Salary will be commensurate with education and experience. Please refer to Tracking Job #JPF01740 on all correspondence.
Reviews for the position will commence on Nov 15, 2015 and will continue until a successful candidate is identified. Interested applicants should apply at UCLA Academic Recruit at:
https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/apply/JPF01740
The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy see: UC Nondiscrimination & Affirmative Action Policy at:
http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct
Applicants should submit:
1) CV
2) Cover letter describing how their qualifications and interests would fit with the position description
3) Two representative publications (or preprints)
4) Statement of research
5) Statement of teaching
6) Three letters of recommendation
All inquiries may be sent to Chie Ryu at chie.ryu@stat.ucla.edu.