Cornell is sponsoring a celebratory conference, today through Saturday, to inaugurate the new Department of Statistical Science.
The theme of the conference is "Statistics for the 21st Century." Persi Diaconis, professor of mathematics and operations research and industrial engineering, will deliver a free public lecture and keynote address tonight at 8 p.m. in Statler Auditorium on "The Search for Randomness."
Conference presentations on Friday in 401 Warren Hall will be given by eminent statisticians from across the country on topics including "Statistical Education," "Statistics in the Biological Sciences," "Statistical Theory Meets Statistical Practice" and "Statistics in the Information Age." Also Friday, a banquet will be held in honor of Lionel Weiss, Cornell professor emeritus of operations research and industrial engineering, at the Triphammer Lodge and Conference Center. And Saturday, in 401 Warren Hall, there will be a panel discussion on "High Points and Pitfalls: Starting a New Department."
Cornell's long and notable tradition in probability and statistics has been achieved by drawing from faculty located in a number of departments across the university. The new universitywide Department of Statistical Science, created on July 1 of this year, will allow better coordination of teaching, consulting, research and computing and will make it possible to offer a universitywide undergraduate degree and a master's degree in applied statistics. At the beginning, the department will have 29 faculty members with primary and joint appointments.
There is a fee for the conference and the banquet, and registration is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. tonight in Statler Auditorium. For information on the department and the conference, contact the department chair, Charles McCulloch, professor of biological statistics, 439 Warren Hall, 255-1643, cem1@cornell.edu. For the conference schedule and participants, visit http://www.stat.cornell.edu/statfest.html.