SAS Hall, the new home for the NC State University Mathematics and Statistics departments, received an Honor Award at the 2009 American Institute of Architecture South Atlantic Region conference held in Greenville, SC. Twenty projects were selected from over 200 entries submitted by AIA South Atlantic Region members. The South Atlantic Region includes North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Park Shops also received an Honor Award. The architectural firm PBC+L (Pearce, Brinkley, Cease and Lee) received a total of three Honor awards, the most of any firm in the region. Pictures and a news announcement can be found at http://www.pbclarchitecture.com/

Congratulations to Dr. Marie Davidian for receiving the COPSS Snedecor Award at JSM 2009 meetings in Washington, DC. She received this ‘for fundamental contributions to the theory and methodology of longitudinal data, especially nonlinear mixed effects models; for significant contributions to the analysis of clinical trials and observational studies; and for leadership as president of ENAR, as editor and as a member of the International Biometrics Society council.’ This award, established in 1976, honors an individual who was instrumental in the development of statistical theory in biometry. The award is for a noteworthy publication in biometry within three years of the data of the award. Starting in 1991 this award is given every other year, in odd years, and consists of a plaque and a cash award.”

“The rising stature of statisticians, who can earn $125,000 at top companies in their first year after getting a doctorate, is a byproduct of the recent explosion of digital data. In field after field, computing and the Web are creating new realms of data to explore — sensor signals, surveillance tapes, social network chatter, public records and more. And the digital data surge only promises to accelerate, rising fivefold by 2012, according to a projection by IDC, a research firm.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/technology/06stats.html

Stefanski earned his B.S. in mathematics and statistics from the University of Connecticut and his M.S. and Ph.D. in statistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Drexel Professorship was created in 1968 by a corporate gift from Drexel Enterprises. The company is now part of the company known as Drexel Heritage Furniture, headquartered in Thomasville, NC.

At the North Carolina State University Commencement Ceremonies, on May 9th, 2009, Professor Wayne A. Fuller received an Honorary Doctorate of Science Degree! Professor Fuller is an Emeritus Distinguished Professor in Statistics and Economics at Iowa State University. He received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Iowa State. He has been publishing extensively in survey sampling, time series analysis and measurement error models. He is the author of Introduction to Statistical Time Series and Measurement Error Models, and is currently completing a book on sampling statistics. He graduated at least 67 Phd’s and counting! Two of his students, David Dickey and Sastry Pantula, have been on the faculty at NC State. A third student of his, A. Ronald Gallant, was a faculty member at NC State for several years, before moving to two other universities (UNC and Duke) in the Research Triangle area. Professor Fuller has held teaching positions at Stanford University, the University of South Hampton, U.K., and the University of New England, Australia. He also served as a visiting professor at NC State. Professor Fuller is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the Econometric Society. He served as the Vice President of the American Statistical Association for a three year period, 1991-1993, and served on many ASA committees and sections. He worked on research problems funded by organizations such as the Natural Resources Conservation Service, NASS, Census Bureau, NSF and BLS.

North Carolina State University formally dedicated its new mathematics and
statistics building on Friday, May 1. At a dedication celebration attended by more than
200 faculty, students, friends and alumni, NC State Chancellor James L. Oblinger
announced for the first time that the building will be named SAS Hall, in honor of the
founders of the Cary, North Carolina-based software company.

The 119,000 square-foot building will house state-of-the-art classrooms, computer labs, tutorial centers and meeting and study space for students and faculty from NC State’s mathematics and statistics departments. A partnership with Cisco will improve digital communications for students by providing access to live and on-demand video content from anywhere on campus.

Construction of the $32-million building was made possible by the Higher
Education Bond Referendum passed by North Carolinians in 2000, as well as by gifts
from private donors, including a substantial contribution from SAS. SAS was born out of a research project that began in the NC State Department of Statistics in the early 1970s. Since then, the company has grown into one of the largest software providers in the world. Two of the company’s founders, CEO Jim Goodnight and Executive Vice President John Sall, as well as their spouses remain close partners and staunch supporters of the department and the university.

“At SAS, we believe that it is vital for students in the mathematical and statistical
sciences to learn in an environment that provides state-of-the-art facilities and
instructional technologies,” Sall said. “It’s also critical that they participate in the kind of collaborative initiatives they’ll experience in the work place. That type of environment produces the type of employee and person we want at SAS, and it’s the type we want to produce at NC State. That’s why we decided to make a significant contribution toward ensuring that this building would become a reality.”

“The technology resources in this building will indeed have a very positive impact
on teaching, learning, consulting, and research in our departments,” said Sastry Pantula, the Head of the Department of Statistics at NC State. “I must say, so will the physical layout of the spaces within this beautiful building. A lot of thought has gone into the overall sense of community, and collaboration we wanted these spaces to convey. Our departments take great pride in mentoring, and vertically integrating research and education! Teaching and discovery don’t happen exclusively in the classrooms, or behind a closed office door. These happen in informal chats between a professor and his/her students over a brown bag lunch. They happen when colleagues strike up a conversation about the day’s events over a cup of coffee in the commons. It happens late at nights when undergraduate and graduate students play together in our computer labs- our modern incubators. It happens when our retired faculty, successful alumni, and friends visit us frequently to share their wealth of experiences. We are very grateful to the donors for their support and for their vision, to the taxpayers of North Carolina, to Dean Solomon, and to every single person involved with this masterpiece, from the conception to completion.”

NC State boasts a longstanding tradition of excellence in teaching and research in
statistics. Its Department of Statistics is among the nation’s oldest and most prestigious, having been founded by renowned statistician Gertrude Cox in 1941. The university currently ranks fifth nationally in total R&D expenditures and in competitive federal R&D expenditures in the mathematical and statistical sciences. It also received the Departmental Teaching and Learning Excellence Award at NC State a few years ago.

“NC State’s mathematical and statistical science programs rank among the best in
the nation,” said Daniel Solomon, dean of the university’s College of Physical and
Mathematical Sciences. “We now have a state-of-the-art facility that is worthy of the
stature of our students and faculty.”

The Committee on the Profession (CoProf) of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) has awarded the NC State Department of Statistics and the University of Mississippi Department of Mathematics the designation of 2009 Programs that Make a Difference.

“These two departments have outstanding records in recruiting members of underrepresented groups and mentoring them to successfully complete their graduate degrees,” said Alejandro Adem of the University of British Columbia, chair of CoProf and of the selection committee for the award. “The AMS Committee on the Profession was extremely impressed with their accomplishments, which can serve as a model for other departments in the United States.”

For the full story and information about what these departments are doing to attract and retain students and faculty from underrepresented groups, please visit http://www.ams.org/ams/press/CoProf-Programs-2009.html

Congratulations to the Statistics Department!

Letter from the Chancellor

Congratulations to Jackie Hughes-Oliver and Anthony Franklin who were recognized today at the University Diversity Awards reception. Dr. Hughes-Oliver was nominated in the faculty category for her long history of supporting a diverse and inclusive campus and department environment. Anthony Franklin was nominated and won! in the student category for his support of current students and in recruiting new students of all backgrounds.

Thanks to Jackie and Anthony for all they do for the department and the university!

• started the Graduate Industrial Traineeship as soon as he became a DGP and over the years help it grow. He nurtured it very well both as the DGP and later as the department head. We should be proud of this program and his contributions to it. As you know, recently we won the ASA-SPAIG award for it- getting the national recognition. It is a win-win-win program. During his time, we have about 75 GIT contracts.
• He grew the graduate program and diversified our graduate program. Especially, he was successful in attracting students from all over the world- not just from China and India, but from Mexico, Brazil, Peru, etc. I think he recruited about 360 graduate students during his term.
• When we have parties at JSM, a number of our alumni come up to him and express their gratefulness for the help he provided as the DGP. I have heard a number of our alumni express how caring Tom was to them. He listened to them and mentored them in the right direction. If you look at our graduates who graduated during his time as the DGP, you will see a number of very successful alumni who we are all proud of. At an award ceremony last year, Ji Zhang, one of our recent PAMS Award recipients, gave a touching speech about Tom and the help he provided for him. I know Jackie was impressed with Tom’s recruiting methods when he was recruiting her. She even wrote a letter for him and he was recognized by the SAA_PAMS for his advocacy for minority students. The same year, he also received the DD Mason Faculty award.

After a year of interim heads and a national search, Tom was selected as the Head of the department in 1994. As the Department Head, Tom had a great impact in the department. He hired a number of excellent faculty members during his term- including- Pam, Butch and Marie, Montse, Sujit, Subhashis, Bill Hunt, Spencer, Jason, Kim, Helen and Daowen. Of course, there were a few others who he hired but are stolen away by other departments. So, not only he had an impact in recruiting outstanding students, but also had an impact on bringing in outstanding faculty who are in turn directing a number of students. He hired a number of excellent staff as well!

Tom had a significant impact in increasing our budget in the department, as well as the grant productivity. Our Bioinformatics Research Center got started during his time. Tom was the leader of our first VIGRE grant. He was responsible for putting together a team of folks together and write up a very successful grant proposal. VIGRE has helped us put on the map as the first solo statistics department to get this grant in its first year of awards!

Tom served on NSF panels, especially for training related grants, and served ASA in several roles. He served as the chair of the ASA chairs group, SPAIG committee and the membership committee. He served as the President of the SRCOS group. He served as an Assistant Director of NISS for a couple of years and worked on recruiting University NISS/SAMSI Affiliates. His service, both on our campus and outside is very well recognized.