The Department of Statistics congratulates PhD alumna ('75) Nan Laird, who was awarded the 2023 Chernoff Excellence in Statistics Award by NESS (the New England Statistics Symposium). Nan Laird, Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of Public Health, Emerita, in Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Department of Biostatistics, was previously awarded the 2021 International Prize in Statistics in recognition of her groundbreaking work on methods of analyzing data from longitudinal studies. Laird and previous recipients of the Chernoff award were selected by the award committee for their "exceptional contributions to the theory, methodology, or novel applications of statistics and/or data science" (source: NESS website). Accepting this honor during the 2023 New England Statistics Symposium (June 3-6), Professor Laird presented her lecture on "The Power of a Good Book: Elementary Decision Theory by Chernoff and Moses."
The Chernoff Excellence in Statistics Award was created in honor of Harvard Statistics Faculty Emeritus Herman Chernoff and in honor of his 95th birthday. The award recognized Professor Chernoff's many research contributions, including work on large sample theory, experimental design, sequential analysis, methods of presenting statistical data in visual form, and statistical decision making. On May 5th, the Department of Statistics celebrated yet another milestone with Professor Chernoff - his 100th birthday - at a research symposium with former colleagues, students, family, and friends. We are thrilled to hear that our alumna Professor Laird has received this award for carrying out research related to Professor Chernoff's work.