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VanderWeele, Lin honored for contributions to the field of statistics

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Tyler VanderWeele and Xihong Lin, faculty members at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, have both received prestigious awards from the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS), in honor of their outstanding contributions to the profession of statistics.

The awards were presented on Aug. 2, 2017 at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Baltimore.

VanderWeele, professor of epidemiology, received the 2017 Presidents’ Award, which is presented annually to a young member of one of the participating societies of COPSS. The award citation recognized VanderWeele “for fundamental contributions to causal inference and the understanding of causal mechanisms; for profound advancement of epidemiologic theory and methods and the application of statistics throughout medical and social sciences; and for excellent service to the profession including exceptional contributions to teaching, mentoring, and bridging many academic disciplines with statistics.”

Lin, Henry Pickering Walcott Professor of Biostatistics and Chair of the Department of Biostatistics, received the COPSS 2017 Florence Nightingale David Award. Sponsored jointly by COPSS and the Caucus for Women in Statistics, this award is granted biennially to a female statistician who serves as a role model to other women by her contributions to the profession through excellence in research, leadership of multidisciplinary collaborative groups, statistics education, or service to the professional societies. The award citation recognized Lin “for leadership and collaborative research in statistical genetics and bioinformatics; and for passion and dedication in mentoring students and young statisticians.”

Read more about their work here.