COPSS Honors 11 at JSM 2022

Maya Sternberg, COPSS Secretary/Treasurer

Members of the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies presented a number of awards at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Washington, DC, on August 10. These awards are jointly sponsored by COPSS founding partner members: the American Statistical Association; Institute of Mathematical Statistics; Eastern and Western regions of the International Biometric Society; and Statistical Society of Canada.

Nancy Reid from University of Toronto was honored with the 2022 COPSS Distinguished Achievement Award and Lectureship. This award recognizes meritorious achievement and scholarship that has a significant impact on the field of statistical science. The award citation recognized Reid for “pioneering contributions to statistical theory and, in particular, to likelihood inference; strong commitment to the promotion of statistical thinking across a range of applications; outstanding service to the statistical profession; and for being a role model, advocate, and mentor to young statisticians.”

Daniela M. Witten of the University of Washington is the winner of the 2022 Presidents’ Award. This award is presented annually to a young member of one of the COPSS participating societies in recognition of outstanding contributions to the profession. The award citation recognized Witten for “bridging the gap between the questions that scientists are asking about their data and the statistical methods that are available to provide insightful answers, especially in the context of biomedical research; for developing flexible and interpretable approaches for modeling large-scale and high-dimensional data; and for the significant elevation of statistical science via successful translation of statistical ideas to a broad audience.” Learn more about Witten in this Amstat News interview.

The winner of the 2022 Elizabeth L. Scott Award and Lectureship is Madhu Mazumdar of Mount Sinai. This award is presented biennially (even years) to recognize an individual who exemplifies the contributions of Elizabeth L. Scott’s lifelong efforts to foster opportunities for women in statistics. The award citation recognized Mazumdar for “serving as an outstanding role model of leadership and creating new leadership opportunities for statisticians; fostering opportunities in statistics and promoting statistical careers for diverse trainees; dedication to training and mentoring the next generation of statistical leaders; and excellence in team science research.”

There were eight winners of the COPSS Leadership Academy Award, which recognizes early-career statistical scientists who show evidence of and potential for leadership in shaping and strengthening the future of the statistics field. The 2022 winners are Xi Chen, Natalie Dean, Davina Durgana, Philip Ernst, Pierre Jacob, Kristian Lum, Lester Mackey, and Betsy Ogburn.

Interested in nominating a colleague for a COPSS Award?