Peter Whittle elected foreign member of National Academy of Engineering

Among the 80 new members and 22 foreign members elected to the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is Peter Whittle, Emeritus Churchill Professor of Mathematics for Operational Research at the University of Cambridge, UK. Peter was elected for “contributions to the mathematics of operations research and statistics.”

Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”

Individuals in the newly elected class will be formally inducted during a ceremony at the NAE’s annual meeting in Washington DC on October 9, 2016. A list of this year’s members is at http://www.nae.edu/Projects/MediaRoom/20095/149240/149788.aspx

Xihong Lin receives National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award

IMS Fellow Xihong Lin, who is Henry Pickering Walcott Professor of Biostatistics and chair of the Harvard’s Department of Biostatistics, has received a prestigious National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award. This seven-year $6.6 million award provides extended funding stability and enable her to develop and apply innovative statistical and computational methods for analyzing massive genetic and genomic data in cancer epidemiology and clinical science. This work will aid in the development of cutting-edge methods for discovering genetic and environmental factors of cancer; provide a better understanding of cancer progression; and inform new approaches to studying cancer progression and new treatment strategies.

In a news story at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ Xihong said she was “flattered” to receive this enabling award, which will give her “plenty of flexibility and freedom to explore cutting-edge data science research in cancer.”

For a full description of the award, visit the NIH website at https://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?aid=8955524&icde=26738243.

R. Dennis Cook named Kansas State University Alumni Fellow

IMS Fellow R. Dennis Cook is one of 12 distinguished Kansas State University alumni to be honored as 2016 Alumni Fellows. Cook is an Alumni Fellow for the College of Arts and Sciences and will present guest lectures April 6–8. The Alumni Fellows were chosen based on their high levels of professional accomplishment and distinguished service in their respective careers. Dennis Cook is a full professor and director of the School of Statistics at the University of Minnesota. He is best known for “Cook’s Distance,” a now ubiquitous statistical method. He has authored over 225 research articles, two textbooks and two research monographs. In 2005, Cook received the COPSS Fisher Lectureship and Award. He is a Fellow of IMS and ASA. Cook earned two degrees from K-State: a master’s in 1969 and a doctorate in 1970, both in statistics. For more information about the Alumni Fellows program, including a full listing of the 2016 Alumni Fellows, visit www.K-State.com/Fellows.