During 2023, two conferences were arranged in order to celebrate the 70th birthday of Professor Dipak K. Dey, University of Connecticut [UConn]. The conferences were both arranged by his PhD students, post-doctoral fellows and visiting students from USA, China, Korea, India and Latin American countries for his distinguished research, teaching, and mentoring career. The first conference, held July 13–14, 2023, at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, was titled, “Pushing the Boundary of Data Science through Statistical Modeling and Inference: A Conference in Honor of Prof. Dipak Dey” (https://sites.google.com/view/dipakdeyconference/home). The event brought together Dr. Dey’s former students, advisers, collaborators, friends, and mentees to recognize his significant contributions to the field of Statistics. The conference program covered a broad range of topics, from cutting-edge statistical modeling and inference to innovative data science techniques in various applications. This conference was attended by more than 60 people. The Organizing Committee consisted of Feng Guo (chair), Jyotishka Datta, Marco Ferreira, Rochelle Fu, Aritra Halder, Sandra Hurtado, Shariq Mohammed, Seongho Song, Xia Wang, and Xiaojing Wang. Plenary speakers were Jim Berger (Duke University), Alan Gelfand (Duke University), and Malay Ghosh (University of Florida). Invited speakers were Sudipto Banerjee (UCLA), Haim Bar, (UConn), Sanjib Basu (UIC), Kun Chen (UConn), Bani Mallick (TAMU), Peter Mueller (UT Austin), Gyuhyeong Goh (KSU), Yuwen Gu (UConn), Shariq Mohammed (BU), Himchan Jeong, (SFU Canada), Qing Li (ISU), Abhisek Saha (NIH), Seongho Song (UC), Aritra Halder (Drexel U), Debajyoti Sinha (FSU), Victor Hugo Lachos Davilla (UConn), Xia Wang (UC), and Malini Iyengar (Astra Zeneca). In addition, PhD students gave poster presentations during breaks. This conference was sponsored by the College of Science and Academy of Data Science, Virginia Tech University, New England Statistical Society, and Pfizer. The conference was attended by many UConn faculty and current students.
The second conference was held on August 16–18, 2023, at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) at Belo Horizonte, Brazil, entitled, “A New Era of Statistical Science: A Special Conference in Honor of Prof. Dipak Dey’s 70th Anniversary” (https://www.redeabe.org.br/a-new-era-of-statistical-science/). The Scientific and Organization Committee for this conference consisted of Marcos Oliveira Prates (UFMG – Chair), Victor Hugo Lachos (UConn), Aldo Medina Garay (UFPE), Francisco Louzada Neto (USP-São Carlos), Carlos A. Abanto-Valle (UFRJ) and Jorge L. Bazán Guzmán (USP-São Carlos).
Prof. Dipak K. Dey is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Connecticut. He is a renowned statistician known for his pioneering work in Bayesian analysis, decision science, and model selection. Prof. Dey earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute and a PhD in Statistics from Purdue University, under the supervision of Prof. Jim Berger. With over 320 research articles published in reputable national and international journals, and over 10 books and edited volumes to his name, he has made a significant impact on the field of statistics and data science, especially in the Latin American community. Before joining the University of Connecticut in 1985, Prof. Dey held academic positions at Stanford University, the University of Kentucky, and Texas Tech University, and has also held visiting appointments at several universities and institutions worldwide. He is a fellow of the IMS, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, ASA, ISBA, and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute, and has received numerous awards and honors for his work.