Section on Bayesian Statistical Science

The 2000 Leonard J. Savage Thesis Awards

Siddhartha Chib, Section Member and Chair of the Leonard J. Savage Evaluation Committee.

The 2000 Leonard J. Savage Thesis Awards were presented at the recent Joint Statistical Meeting in Atlanta. These awards recognize outstanding theoretical and applied contributions in Bayesian Econometrics and Statistics. There is also an honorable mention for an outstanding dissertation in these areas.

The Evaluation Committee for the 2000 Leonard J. Savage Thesis Awards consisted of Siddhartha Chib, Washington University, St. Louis, Chair, Susie Bayarri, University of Valencia; Brad Carlin, University of Minnesota; Dave Higdon, Duke University; Mike Evans, University of Toronto and Steve MacEachern, Ohio State University.

This year the committee narrowed down the submissions to a set of four finalists - Peter Hoff, for his thesis on “Constrained Nonparametric Estimation via Mixtures," under the supervision of Mike Newton; Tzee-Ming Huang, for her thesis on “Convergence Rates for Posterior Distributions," under Larry Wasserman; Tim Hanson, for his thesis “Applied Bayesian Semiparametric Methods with Special Application to the Accelerated Failure Time Model and to Hierarchical Models for Screening," under Wes Johnson; and Jeremy Oakley, for his thesis “Bayesian Uncertainty Analysis for Complex Computer Code,"  under Tony O'Hagan.

Each of the finalists was invited to participate in the Savage Dissertation Session at the JSM in Atlanta.  The winners were announced the day after the session at the Bayesian mixer. The Theory prize was awarded to Peter Hoff and Tzee-Ming Huang (as co-winners) and the Applied Methodology Prize to Jeremy Oakley. All three winners each received a $750 check and a commemorative plaque. Tim Hanson received a honorable mention, along with a $100 check and a plaque.

Congratulations to the winners and their advisors!!

If you would like to contact the finalists, Tzee-Ming is now at Iowa State, Peter Hoff at the University of Washington, Tim Hanson at the University of New Mexico and Jeremy Oakley at University of Sheffield.

Further information about the Savage Award and deadlines for the next round of the competition can be obtained from the SBSS web page at

http://www.stat.ucla.edu/~jsanchez/sbssnews/awards/awards.html