Maya Sternberg, the COPSS Secretary/Treasurer, introduces the eight new COPSS Emerging Leaders. In creating this award, COPSS recognizes the increasingly important role that early-career statistical scientists are playing in shaping the future of the discipline.  The award is designed both to call attention to the efforts of these individuals and to provide a mechanism for them to share their vision for the field with each other and the statistical community. The selection criteria for the award are intentionally broad and designed to highlight contributions in areas not traditionally recognized by other early-career awards in the statistical sciences. The awardees are:

Peng Ding
University of California, Berkeley

For outstanding contributions to the foundations and applications of causal inference, for both randomized experiments and observational studies, with emphasis on settings with high-dimensional covariates and complex structures.

Edgar Dobriban

University of Pennsylvania

For fundamental contributions to the development of random matrix theory-based statistical methods, theory for analyzing massive datasets, uncertainty quantification in machine learning, including parallel analysis for principal component analysis, distributed statistical learning, scalable inference via random projections; for innovative methods for COVID-19 pooled testing using hypergraph factorization; for outstanding mentoring.

Jingyi Jessica Li

University of California, Los Angeles

For innovative and disruptive research at the junction of statistics and biology, especially in statistical genomics. For advocacy of the importance of statistical rigor in the biomedical science community. For outreach efforts and commitment to improve the diversity in quantitative research.

Gongjun Xu

University of Michigan

For making breakthroughs on challenging problems in the behavioral sciences, for significant theoretical and methodological contributions to latent variable models, high-dimensional inference, survival analysis, and for outstanding editorial services and leadership.

Lorin Crawford

Microsoft Corporation & Brown University

For path-breaking research combining theory and methods of mathematics, statistics and computing to generate new knowledge and insight about the genetic basis of disease, and for exceptional mentoring of students from multiple scientific disciplines.

Yates Coley

Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute

For impactful statistical contributions in the areas of ethical clinical prediction model development and learning health systems science; for significant leadership and advocacy to advance justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the profession and practice of statistics.

Avi Feller

University of California, Berkeley

For groundbreaking research in causal inference and program evaluation; for bridging statistics, public policy, and education research; and for commitment to building a more inclusive field.

Veronika Rockova

University of Chicago

For groundbreaking contributions to theory and methodology at the intersection of Bayesian and frequentist statistics, for outstanding editorial service to the profession, and for excellence in the advising and supervision of doctoral students