Archive for Statistics
Bye’ ometrika
Posted in Books, pictures, Statistics, University life with tags academic publisher, associate editor, Biometrika, Biometrika Trust, commercial editing, editor, large-scale statistical learning, peer review, refereeing, statistical inference, statistical machine learning, Statistics on February 1, 2024 by xi'anTanuka Chattopadhyay (26 Jan 1963 – 16 Oct 2023)
Posted in Statistics, Travel, University life with tags applied mathematics, ASI, Astrophysics, astrostatistics, Bangalore, IAU, India, ISI, IUCAA, Kolkata, obit, Pune, Statistics, University of Calcutta, West Bengal on November 25, 2023 by xi'an
Most sadly, I learned today that applied mathematics Professor Tanuka Chattopadhyay, from the University of Calcutta, had passed away last month. We had been briefly collaborating after I met her and her husband Asis Chattopadhyay, also Professor of Statistics at the University of Calcutta, following a Franco-Indian workshop in Bangalore. Discussing research directions in astrostatistics in Kolkata and later in Paris, when they visited. We had not been in touch for a few years and I was not aware she was severely ill. Dedicated researcher and mentor, as well as contributing to the administration of the University in many ways, she was versed in classical Indian culture and I will keep the memory of our conversations, esp. the one on New Year’s Ewe in Kolkata.
What follows is an obituary written by Professor Ajit Kembhavi.
Professor Tanuka Chattopadhyay (née Kanjilal), a member of the Astronomical Society of India, passed away on October 16th this year, at the age of 60, after a long and heroic battle with cancer. She was a Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics of the University of Calcutta. She has been Head of the Department and Dean, Faculty of Science, Calcutta University. At her demise she was Director, Center for Research in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of the University.Tanuka was from an early age very interested in mathematics. To take that interest further, she joined Presidency College, Kolkata from where she completed her degree in Mathematics with Honours in 1983. For post graduate studies she joined the Department of Applied Mathematics where she got interested in Astrophysics. She later worked for a Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Baidyanath Basu on Explosion in the central region of the Galaxy, the consequent star formation, formation of molecular clouds and structure of shocks.
Over the years Tanuka worked on a variety of topics. Her earliest papers were on squalls, thunderstorms and convective instability. From these terrestrial considerations her interest soon shifted to molecular clouds, star formation and density waves in the Galaxy. In later years she worked on globular clusters, galaxies with special interest in dwarf and ultra-compact galaxies, Gamma-ray bursts, statistical simulation and computation. In much of her work she used advanced statistical methods to get the most out of available astronomical data. She has published about 50 papers in international journals, and written four books, including Statistical Methods for Astronomical Data Analysis written with her husband Professor Asis Kumar Chattopadhyay, published by Springer and awarded an outstanding publication award in Astrostatistics by the International Astrostatistics Association. Tanuka successfully completed several national and international funded projects and was a frequent visitor to several leading universities in Canada, France and the USA, where she had long collaborations. She supervised a number of Ph.D. students and was a respected teacher and mentor.Tanuka was a Visiting Associate of IUCAA, Pune from 2002 until she passed away. I met her during her first visits to IUCAA, and we soon became friends and collaborators. We were later joined by her husband Asis Chattopadhyay, who is a Professor at the Department of Statistics in the University of Calcutta and was a Pro-Vice Chancellor and Acting Vice Chancellor of the University. Asis soon became a Visiting Associate of IUCAA and the three of us organised a number of workshops in Kolkata and other places on statistical methods and their application to the analysis of astronomical data. Tanuka was a Fellow of West Bengal Academy of Science and member of several organisations including the International Astronomical Union (IAU), Astronomical Society of India, and the International Astrostatistics Association.Using funds obtained under the DST PURSE programme, Tanuka obtained a 14” optical telescope. This was installed in 2015 on the terrace of a building in Rajabazar College and was used for sky watching, as well as carrying our research projects, by students of the Department of Applied Mathematics and other departments of the University. She was also planning to start an outreach programme for school children in Kolkata. Making the telescope available was an exemplary initiative from a person who was a mathematician and a theoretical astrophysicist.In spite of her illness, which stretched over several years, Tanuka remained brave, cheerful and full of spirit, and continued to work very hard. A few months ago, she, Dipankar Banerjee and I were speakers at a meeting celebrating the birth centenary of Professor M. K. Dasgupta. It was impossible for me to then believe that the dynamic speaker was gravely ill, with further treatment not really possible. She talked to me about a visit to IUCAA in December and I was sure she would really come. But about five weeks after the event, she had to be admitted to hospital one night, after having spent the evening attending a meeting in the Vice-Chancellor’s office. She did not return.Tanuka had many interests outside astrophysics. She wrote two Bengali novels Bibashan and Gandhari Santoti. She was completing her first English novel when she passed away, which her family hopes to publish posthumously. She had an artistic nature, had formal training in music and dance and was greatly interested in travel and culture. She was a wonderful wife, mother and mother-in-law, a great hostess and beloved friend, and respected guide and mentor to many. She will be greatly missed.Ajit Kembhavi
IUCAA and Pune Knowledge Cluster
four positions in statistics at Warwick [reposted]
Posted in University life with tags academic position, assistant professor position, associate professor position, job opening, machine learning, Midlands, Statistics, UK, United Kingdom, University of Warwick, WBS on November 12, 2022 by xi'an
Assistant and Associate Professor positions in Statistics and Machine Learning at Warwick
Outstanding and enthusiastic academics are sought by the Department of Statistics at Warwick, one of the world’s most prominent and most research active departments of Statistics. The Department has close relations with the co-located Mathematics Institute and Department of Computer Science and with other departments such as Economics and the Warwick Business School. Four permanent posts are available, which reflects the strong commitment of the University of Warwick to invest in Statistics and Machine Learning:
Assistant Professor, Applied Statistics
Associate Professor, Machine Learning
Assistant Professor, Machine Learning
Associate Professor, Statistics
Applicants should have evidence or promise of world-class research excellence and ability to deliver high quality teaching across our broad range of degree programmes. At Associate Professor level, applicants should have an outstanding publication record. Other positive indicators include enthusiasm for engagement with other disciplines, within and outside the Department and, at Associate Professor level, a proven ability to secure research funding. Further details of the requirements for each of the four positions can be found at https://warwick.ac.uk/statjobs.
The Department of Statistics is committed to promoting equality and diversity, holding an Athena SWAN Silver award which demonstrates this commitment. We welcome applicants from all sections of the community and will give due consideration to applicants seeking flexible working patterns, and to those who have taken a career break. Further information about working at the University of Warwick, including information about childcare provision, career development and relocation is at https://warwick.ac.uk/services/humanresources/workinghere/.
Informal inquiries can be addressed to Professors Jon Forster (J.J.Forster@warwick.ac.uk) or Adam Johansen (A.M.Johansen@warwick.ac.uk) or to any other senior member of the Warwick Statistics Department.
Closing date: December 12, 2022.
More details and a link to the application forms: https://warwick.ac.uk/statjobs
Further information about the Department of Statistics: https://warwick.ac.uk/stats
Further information about the University of Warwick: https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/humanresources/jobsintro/furtherparticulars
a random day, in Paris
Posted in Statistics, University life with tags conference, IHP, Institut Henri Poincaré, journée aléatoire, probability theory, SFDS, SMAI, SMF, statistical inference, Statistics on September 28, 2022 by xi'anERC descriptors
Posted in Statistics, Travel, University life with tags biostatistics, Brussels, designators, econometrics, ERC, EU, Europe, European Commission, European Research Council, grant application, machine learning, signal processing, Statistics on November 9, 2020 by xi'anHere are the descriptors (or keywords) validated by the (European Research Council) ERC for submitting grant proposal. The recent addition of PE1_15 in the Mathematics panel should help when submitting more methodological projects:
PE1_14 Mathematical statistics
PE1_15 Generic statistical methodology and modelling
PE1_19 Scientific computing and data processing
even though other panels could prove equally suited for some, as in Computer Science and Informatics,
PE6_7 Artificial intelligence, intelligent systems, natural language processing
PE6_10 Web and information systems, data management systems, information retrieval and digital libraries, data fusion
PE6_11 Machine learning, statistical data processing and applications using signal processing (e.g. speech, image, video)
PE6_12 Scientific computing, simulation and modelling tools
PE6_13 Bioinformatics, bio-inspired computing, and natural computing
in Systems and Communication Engineering,
PE7_7 Signal processing
in Integrative Biology,
LS2_11 Bioinformatics and computational biology
LS2_12 Biostatistics
in Prevention,Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases,
LS7_1 Medical imaging for prevention, diagnosis and monitoring of diseases
LS7_2 Medical technologies and tools (including genetic tools and biomarkers) for prevention, diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of diseases
and in Social Sciences and Humanities,
SH1_6 Econometrics; operations research
SH4_9 Theoretical linguistics; computational linguistics
![I am retiring today from co-editing Biometrika. It has been an exciting if somewhat stressing six years, with a constant flow of submissions to keep under control [2023 saw a record 580 submissions!], a task made somewhat easier during the COVID lockdowns as I could manage my schedule. I do feel most honoured to have been part of the Biometrika editorial board as I consider the journal a very top publication in statistics, with a highly elegant style. I am most sincerely grateful for the support of my co-editors, Paul Fearnhead and Omiros Papaspiliopoulos, the help provided by the managing editor, Rosalind Gesser, and for the hard and almost universally efficient work of the associate editors in handling the papers I sent them. Last but not least, I thank the authors for their near-universal understanding of our necessity to reject a large fraction of the submissions from an early stage, towards keeping the load of both associate editors and reviewers manageable. Farewell!](https://i0.wp.com/xianblog.fr/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/m_biomet_106_2cover.png?resize=203%2C285&ssl=1)

