XL Files
In last issue’s XL-Files, Xiao-Li Meng set a picture quiz. Nobody has yet correctly identified everyone in the pictures below. If you can, and you’re over 21, you’ll be invited to a “libation and inspiration” at JSM 2017 to celebrate the lives of the nine great statisticians who passed…

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Contributing Editor Xiao-Li Meng writes: “How could that happen?” was perhaps the question of the year for 2016. Other than a small percentage of perceptive minds, which I hope include disproportionately more of my fellow statisticians, the rest of the human population seems to still be coping with the aftermath…

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Contributing Editor Xiao-Li Meng writes: A Nobel Prize in Statistics? Well, almost. The launching of the International Prize for Statistics (IPS), with its explicit references to the Nobel Prize (NP) and other major awards [see this link], aims to establish IPS as “the highest honor in the field of Statistics.”…

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Xiao-Li Meng writes: Writing the last XL- Files on “Peter Hall of Fame” reminded me of a piece that I have wanted to write since attending Chin Long Chiang’s memorial workshop on November 15, 2014. Professor Chiang was a pioneer of biostatistics long before I survived a course on survival…

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Xiao-Li Meng writes: For many statisticians, “Peter Hall” is a synonym for prolificacy. In his 40 years of professional career since his PhD in 1976, Peter had published over 600 papers, mostly in top journals. However, if Peter’s legacy were remembered only by his scholarly accomplishments, we would be missing…

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