News

Prof. Xihong Lin visits the White House and participates in a roundtable discussion with the OSTP (Office of Science and Technology Policy)

White House Invites Professor Xihong Lin to Roundtable Meeting

March 11, 2024

We are pleased to share that Professor Xihong Lin was invited to attend a roundtable discussion on March 2nd at the White House.  Hosted by the White House and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the meeting included the following attendees: leaders from the Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF), Director Dr. Arati Prabhakar of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Deputy Assistant...

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Professor Susan Murphy Receives 2024 Mosteller Award

March 1, 2024
With great excitement, the Department of Statistics would like to share that Professor Susan Murphy was selected by the American Statistical Association's Boston Chapter as the recipient of the 2024 Mosteller Statistician of the Year Award. The award was named after Professor Fred Mosteller, one of the founding members of our department. Every year the Boston Chapter presents the... Read more about Professor Susan Murphy Receives 2024 Mosteller Award
Ginnie Ma and Jason Zhou receive awards

Interview with Virginia Ma about her 2023 Concurrent Masters Prize

February 1, 2024

In May 2023, Virginia (Ginnie) Linqian Ma won the inaugural Department of Statistics Concurrent Masters Prize (along with Jason Zhou ’23 AB/AM).  This prize is awarded annually to the graduating master’s (AM) student who has the best overall performance in coursework, has demonstrated achievements in Statistics outside of coursework, and has contributed significantly to the department.  In following interview (excerpted and edited) from the summer (pardon the publishing delay!), Ginnie speaks with us about her journey as a master’s student through the Stats...

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Yicong Jiang Photo with Chair Sam Kou

Interview with Yicong Jiang on Winning the 2022-2023 Dempster Prize

January 30, 2024

In the May 2023 Commencement Celebration, PhD student Yicong Jiang was awarded the 2022-2023 Dempster Prize for his paper co-authored with Professor Tracy Ke, "Semi-Supervised Community Detection via Structural Similarity Metrics."  The Dempster Prize is named in honor of Emeritus Professor Arthur P. Dempster and is given annually to a graduate student in recognition of the student’s research.  In the following excerpted and edited interview, Yicong shares with us how the Stats Department helped him adjust to living in a new country, discover his passion for research, and hone...

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Ginnie Ma and Jason Zhou receive awards

Jason Zhou Receives 2023 Department of Statistics Concurrent Masters Prize

January 2, 2024

Statistics concentrator and master’s alum Jason Zhou was awarded the inaugural Department of Statistics Concurrent Masters Prize in May 2023 (along with alum Virginia Ma).  This prize is given annually to the graduating concurrent master’s student who has the best overall performance (as indicated by coursework results), has demonstrated achievements in statistics outside of coursework, and has contributed significantly to the department.  To celebrate his award and learn about his thesis...

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Rachel Li Receiving Award

Rachel Li Receives 2023 Department of Statistics Senior Concentrator Prize

December 31, 2023

This year, concentrator alum Rachel Li received the May 2023 Department of Statistics Senior Concentrator Prize for her superb coursework in the concentration and for an outstanding thesis.  Originally named the Department of Statistics Undergraduate Prize, the award was founded in 2020 and is given annually to the graduating senior concentrator who has the best overall performance and has contributed significantly to the department.  In an interview (edited and excerpted below), Rachel shared her most...

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Dinan Elsyad

Dinan Hamdi Elsyad Receives Best Video Presentation at eUSR 2023

December 12, 2023

The Statistics Department congratulates undergraduate Dinan Hamdi Elsyad (a junior statistics concentrator) on receiving the best video presentation at the 2023 Electronic Undergraduate Statistics Research Conference for her summer research work with Niels Korsgaard (Harvard), Kate Hu (Harvard), Grayson White (Michigan State), Josh Yamamoto, and George Gaines (research scientist...

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James Xenakis Photo

Meet Lecturer James Xenakis in the Harvard Department of Statistics

October 26, 2023

The Department of Statistics would like to welcome Dr. James Xenakis, Lecturer in Statistics, to our teaching faculty!  Dr. Xenakis joined the department in August 2023 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, where he had previously completed a PhD in Biostatistics.  In the edited and excerpted interview below, Dr. Xenakis spoke with us about his statistics projects in a mouse lab, reasons for joining the department, and favorite hobby (reading American fiction...

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xihonglin.jpg

Professor Xihong Lin Reflects on NAS Election and Career Highlights

October 24, 2023

On a spring afternoon in the Program in Quantitative Genomics Seminar at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Professor Xihong Lin felt a buzz in her pocket.  Silencing the pesky phone, she was surprised to see a text saying that she was now a member of the National Academy of Sciences.  The reality of this only set in when the official announcement was released at 3:00 pm and phone calls and emails started rolling in – work would have to be on pause for the day.

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