We are pleased to report that NSERC, through its
Collaborative and Thematic Resources Support in Mathematics and Statistics Program,
has awarded the funding for CANSSI requested by the Centre de
recherches mathématiques (CRM), the Fields Institute for the Research in
the Mathematical Sciences, and the Pacific Institute for the
Mathematical Sciences (PIMS).
Over the next five years, the three institutes will allocate jointly
$405,000 per year (on average) of NSERC funds to CANSSI: $200,000 from
PIMS, $105,000 from the CRM, and $100,000 from Fields. In addition,
CANSSI will receive from the Fields institute an additional $100,000 per
year in funds from other sources. A big thank-you to all who helped to
write the 15-page CANSSI proposal, participated in the site visit, or
provided letters of support.
In addition, NSERC has provided CRM, Fields and PIMS with $1.5 million
over three years “to set up an Institute Innovation Platform to foster
partnerships between mathematics and statistics researchers and
non-academic partners in the public and private sectors.”
At the CANSSI Board meeting and the Scientific Planning meeting
last May, it was noted that the demand for and interest in postdoctoral
fellowships in the statistical sciences is greater than CANSSI alone can
fund. It was suggested that CANSSI could help by providing a web page
with links to postdoctoral opportunities of which we become aware. This
page has been started here,
with advertisements that have been sent to d-ssc and other places.
Those at member institutions are urged to let us know of any
postdoctoral fellowships you would like posted.
Two successful
workshops co-funded by CANSSI and SAMSI, connected with SAMSI research
programs for 2013-2014, were held in May and June of 2014.
The workshop "
Geometric, Topological and Graphical Model Methods in Statistics",
organized by Peter Kim of the University of Guelph, Hélène Massam of
York University, and Ezra Miller of Duke University, was held at the
Fields Institute May 22-23, 2014. The aim was to highlight new
developments in data analysis methods using various aspects of
mathematics. While most of the talks were on geometric, topological or
graphical methods, some were on algebraic methods, another area of
statistics having deep mathematical roots. Speakers emphasized the
intensive and crucial role of computing to analyze high-dimensional
complex data and offered efficient algorithms to analyze this data.
Mateen Shaikh (McMaster University) gives a talk at the Geometric,
Topological and Graphical Model Methods in Statistics Workshop at the
Fields Institute. (Photo credit: Jeff Picka)
|
 Participants discuss the posters.
(Photo credit: Jeff Picka) |
The workshop, "
Computational Methods for Survey and Census Data in the Social Sciences",
organized by Mary Thompson of the University of Waterloo, Louis-Paul
Rivest and Anne-Sophie Charest of Université Laval, David Haziza of
Université de Montréal, Jean Poirier of the Centre interuniversitaire
québecois de statistiques sociales, and Mike Hidiroglou of Statistics
Canada, was held at the Centre de recherches mathématiques June 20-21,
2014. A major purpose for the workshop was to provide an opportunity
for statisticians and social scientists to communicate about problems
and new directions. For more details, see page 14 of the
CRM Bulletin.
An AARMS Summer School in Statistics was held at Dalhousie University
July 21 to August 15, 2014. Hugh Chipman of Acadia University and Xu
(Sunny) Wang of St. Francis Xavier University provided a course on
"Statistical Learning with Big Data", and Julie Horrocks of the
University of Guelph taught a course entitled "Spatial Statistics".
About twenty graduate and undergraduate students attended from around
the world.
This workshop, organized by a team led by Judy-Anne Chapman of Queen's
University, was held at the Fields Institute November 7 and 8, 2014.
Researchers learned about emerging developments in statistical designs,
analyses for clinical trials, and translational research. More pictures
from this workshop are available
here.
Participants at the Workshop on Statistical Issues on Biomarker and Drug Co-Development (Photo credit: Steven McKinney)
In 2014, three CANSSI Collaborative Research Projects kicked off.
The
Advancements to State-Space Models (SSMs) for Fisheries Science
Team met in May at the Fields Institute to bring together the
participants. It was well attended with much energetic and positive
participation. Team members at Dalhousie are busy learning TMB (The new
R package that Anders Nielsen described to us on the last day of the
workshop: It does what ADMB does and is much easier to use). The team is
currently finishing up an initial paper to demonstrate the utility of
TMB for fitting robust SSMs to tracking data. They have also recently
submitted a paper titled "Robust SSMs for estimating fish stock
maturities" which uses ADMB. Our second workshop will focus
specifically on using TMB for the problems ("case studies") in fisheries
science that we describe in the proposal. This workshop will again
coincide with the SSC Meetings.
The
Copula Dependence Modeling: Theory and Applications
research team is currently preparing a four-day workshop on new
horizons in copula modeling. The event will take place December 15-18 at
the
Centre de recherches mathématiques (CRM) in Montréal. It
will feature close to twenty specialists from a dozen countries or so.
In addition to fostering interaction between group members, the workshop
should help to develop a collective view of recent advances in the
field, generate new ideas, and create training opportunities. For more
details, see
http://www.crm.umontreal.ca/2014/Copula14/index_e.php.
The
Statistical Modeling of the World: Computer and Physical Models in Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences team members are co-teaching a course called
Dynamic Computer Experiments.
This course is held jointly by video link at Acadia University, Simon
Fraser University and University of British Columbia. It is a great
opportunity for students at the three universities to interact.
Screen shot of the Dynamic Computer Experiments course at Acadia, SFU and UBC. (Photo credit: Derek Bingham)
A proposal for the Board composition will be brought forward to the December Board meeting to be considered.
The Board will be elected each year at the Annual General Meeting,
and normally, the term of a member of the Board will be three years,
renewable once; beginning in 2015, some will be understood to be serving
for one more year, some for two more years, and some for three years.