Senegal course on Records Theory: foundation, estimation, prediction and characterization

The Department of Applied Mathematics and LERSTAD (Laboratoire d’Études et de Recherches en Statistiques et Développement) at the Université Gaston Berger, Saint-Louis, Senegal) hosted an invited international course on Records Theory (foundation, estimation, prediction and characterization). This international post-graduate course took place in the Gaston Berger University (UGB) from 20 to 31 March 2017, and was followed by participants from Senegal, Mali and Togo.

The invited speaker, Professor Mohammad Ahsanullah of Rider University (Lawrenceville, New Jersey, USA) was able to successfully cover all aspects of records theory and exposed some of its new research trends. He also left a series of open problems to be tackled by those in attendance.

It is expected that some members of the LERSTAD (both MS/PhD students and senior members) will undertake research activities on the topic of the course. Workshops are also scheduled within Africa to share the results of this fantastic experience.

This course is part of an initiative launched to diversify and to empower the research activities at the local plan of UGB, and more generally in Africa, to set up a MS–PhD mentoring system, and to initiate co-authoring with well-confirmed scientists who wish to share with their African counterparts. A special effort is made to reach experts from North America, as in this case, with Prof Ahsanullah.

The course was organized by Prof Gane Samb Lo, under the supervision of the LERSTAD, Applied Mathematics Department and the Sciences Faculty. It was funded by the World Bank Excellence Center CEA-MITIC/UGB.

Future courses are planned within the scope described above. Contact Gane Samb Lo, President of the Statistics and Probability African Society (statpas.net), for further details: gane-samb.lo@ugb.edu.sn.

Some of the participants at the Records Theory course in Senegal in March