Yildiz Yilmaz is CANSSI’s new Associate Director (AD) representing Atlantic Canada. She was confirmed for a three-year term at the March 2023 meeting of CANSSI’s Board of Directors.
Yildiz is an Associate Professor and Deputy Head, Statistics, in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. She joined the department in 2013 after completing her PhD at the University of Waterloo in 2009 and working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, between 2009 and 2013.
An Active Member of the Statistical Sciences Community
Yildiz has a notable record of service within the statistical sciences community and a well established relationship with CANSSI. She is the CANSSI representative for Memorial University and the recipient of a CANSSI Collaborative Research Teams (CRT) grant.
The CRT experience was a motivating factor in her decision to apply for the AD position.
“As a collaborator working in a CANSSI CRT program project and receiving grant money for my graduate students, I recognize the importance of CANSSI for statistical scientists and would be pleased to serve as an Associate Director Atlantic,” said Yildiz in her application. “CANSSI provides research grants, postdoctoral fellowship awards and graduate student scholarships for statistical science researchers and trainees. It is crucial for statistical scientists in Canada to support this specialized institute for statistical sciences to advance actuarial science, biostatistics, inferential data science, and statistics.”
A Willingness to Pitch In
In her application letter, Yildiz expressed her approval for CANSSI’s emphasis on supporting collaboration and creating “an equitable, diverse and inclusive research environment” that brings together researchers and trainees from different institutions.
She hopes to help expand these initiatives.
“To increase funding opportunities and participation of statistical scientists and trainees from different regions to CANSSI programs, a long-term aim can be set to search additional funding through some regional grant agencies such as the Department of Industry, Energy and Technology in Newfoundland. I am willing to assist in strategy and long-term program development and bring regional concerns to the attention of CANSSI. I will be pleased to assist with adjudication of program decisions and with other responsibilities of Associate Directors.”
Welcome, Yildiz!
About CANSSI’s Associate Directors
Associate Directors are part of CANSSI’s primary management and administrative group, together with the Director, Deputy Director, and Regional Directors. They provide feedback on all aspects of CANSSI operations, help steer CANSSI developments, and adjudicate the smaller budget programs as well as the CANSSI Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowships program.
