Marking 90 Years of the GW Department of Statistics!

Dates: May 9–10, 2025

Location: Jack Morton Auditorium, George Washington University, Washington, DC

Overview

The Department of Statistics at the George Washington University is celebrating its 90th anniversary, marking nearly a century of significant contributions to statistical education and research. The conference, “The Past, Present and Future of Statistics in the Era of AI” will highlight the demand and enthusiasm within the academic and professional community for high-quality gatherings focused on contemporary statistical challenges and opportunities. 

The conference aims to foster deeper understanding and collaboration by bringing together established researchers, emerging scholars and industry professionals to discuss the evolving role of statistics in the context of modern AI advancements. A key goal of the event is to address pressing challenges in the mathematical sciences, such as uncertainty quantification, model stability and scalable data handling. By exploring emerging trends and fostering the development of innovative methodologies, we will contribute to advancing research at the intersection of statistics and AI.

Plenary Speakers

Susan Murphy, Mallinckrodt Professor of Statistics and of Computer Science. Associate Faculty, Kempner Institute  |  Harvard University

Annie Qu, Chancellor’s Professor, University of California, Irvine  |  Department of Statistics

Distinguished Alumni Lecturers: 

Kimberly Sellers, PhD '01, Department Head and Professor, North Carolina State University, Department of Statistics

William Rosenberger, PhD '92, Distinguished University Professor, George Mason University, Department of Statistics

Susan Ellenberg, PhD '80, Emerita Professor of Biostatistics, Medical Ethics and Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania

Program Details

Invited Speakers:

L. J. Wei  |  Harvard University

Ansu Chatterjee  |  University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Weijie Su  |  University of Pennsylvania

Zhuoran Yang  |  Yale University

Kannan Natarajan  |  Pfizer

Panel Discussion:

Katherine Jenny Thompson  |  U.S. Census Bureau

Jiayang Sun  |  George Mason University

Joel Greenhouse  |  Carnegie Mellon University

Short Courses:

"Variational Inference or Foundations of Deep Learning"  |  Lizhen Lin, UMD

"Reinforcement Learning"  |  Zhengling Qi, GW

Organizing Committee

Tatiyana Apanasovich

Feifang Hu

Subrata Kundu

Xiaoke Zhang

Registration details coming soon. For information, please contact xkzhang@gwu.edu.

About GW Statistics

Founded in 1935, GW’s Department of Statistics was the first department of its kind in the United States to be housed in a college of arts and sciences. Since then, GW Statistics has established itself as a global leader in statistical education and research.

Thanks to our location in the heart of Washington, D.C., students benefit through our access and collaborations with the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Cancer Institute, the Department of Labor and other organizations that are using statistics to make remarkable advances every day. We are proud to be home to a welcoming community of diverse students from all over the world, with more than 60 undergraduate majors and more than 200 graduate students in the program. Our faculty include Guggenheim and Ford Foundation Fellows, as well as leaders in the Institute of Mathematical Statistics Fellowship and the American Statistical Association, and they receive prestigious research grants from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and more.

Read an article on the Statistics Department's history, published by Springer Nature on the occasion of the department's 75th anniversary.