Through awards funded by the Statistics Fund for Excellence, the Department of Statistics honours and encourages outstanding Statistics undergraduate and graduate students. This fund also supports various initiatives designed to improve our student experience. Your support of this fund helps recognize the talent and hard work of these students.
The annual awards supported by this fund include:
- The Nash Medal for the most outstanding graduating undergraduate Statistics student.
- The Marshall Prize for an outstanding graduate Statistics student.
- The Graduate Teaching Award. Recipient(s) are also nominated for the Faculty of Science Killam Graduate Teaching Award.
We are proud of all award recipients, their achievements while at UBC, and what they accomplish after graduation.
For example, Luke Bornn (MSc 2008, PhD 2012) received the Marshall Prize for developing statistical tools for analyzing agricultural and environmental data. Luke also received the Graduate Teaching Award and the Faculty of Science Killam Graduate Teaching Award. Luke says, “The mentorship I received in the Statistics Department was hugely influential to my growth as a statistician. I began graduate studies with only a vague notion of what statistics was, but left with a strong knowledge base alongside a passion for excellence in research. Receiving the Marshall prize was a wonderful validation of how much I have learned and achieved at UBC”. Luke has recently decided to leave his faculty position at Harvard University to “come home” to Vancouver, this time as a faculty member at Simon Fraser University.
Corinne Riddell (MSc 2011) also values her time at UBC. Corinne received the Marshall Prize for her research on an adaptive clinical trial design for a multiple sclerosis study. She also was honoured for her teaching through our Graduate Teaching Award and the Faculty of Science Killam Graduate Teaching Award. Corinne says, “I am still impressed by the magnitude of opportunities available to statistics graduate students at UBC. My teaching and research assistantships allowed me to hone my teaching and applied research skills and, combined with the first-class supervision I received for my Master’s thesis, has prepared me for a future career in academics.” She is now enrolled in the PhD program in Epidemiology at McGill University.
With your support of the Statistics Fund for Excellence, the Department of Statistics can do even more to honour and support our extraordinary students.
