Statistics and Data Science Seminar Series : Department of Mathematics and Statistics : UMass Amherst

Spring 2025

Date	Speaker	Title
Thurs. 1/30	Jake Gagnon Biogen	ML Best Practices with Reproducible Reporting
Thurs. 2/6	Kun Meng Brown University	Statistical Analysis of Shapes and Images via the Euler Characteristic
Thurs. 2/13	Robert Thiesmeier Karolinska Institute	A new framework for multiple imputation in distributed data networks
Thurs. 2/27	Evan Ray University of Massachusetts Amherst	Evaluating Infectious Disease Forecasts with Allocation Scoring Rules
Thurs. 3/6	Zhengqing Ouyang University of Massachusetts Amherst	Model-based embedding for 3D structure reconstruction
Thurs. 3/13	Judith Lok Boston University	Learn-as-you-Go (LAGO) to adapt the intervention in an ongoing trial to prevent trial failure
Thurs. 3/27	Yuedong Wang University of California Santa Barbara	Estimation and model selection for nonparametric function-on-function regression
Thurs. 4/3	Elizabeth (Betsy) Bersson Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Covariance meta regression, with application to mixtures of chemical exposures
Thurs. 4/10	Jiwei Zhao University of Wisconsin	Statistical Benefits when Incorporating LLM-Derived Predictions: Old Wine in a New Bottle?
Thurs. 4/17	Aaron Scheffler University of California San Francisco	Constrained covariate-dependent smoothing and curve registration with applications to disease progression modeling
Thurs. 4/24	Mylène Bédard University of Montréal	Performance boost for the MALA sampler
Thurs. 5/1	Cong Jiang Harvard University	A Double Machine Learning Approach for the Evaluation of Vaccine Effectiveness under the Test-Negative Design

Fall 2024

Date	Speaker	Title
Thurs. 9/12	Aaron Sarvet University of Massachusetts Amherst	The outperformance of machine learning by human intuition: resolving a paradox with unmeasured confounding
Thurs. 9/19	Xiaoyu Chen University at Buffalo	Distribution-in-distribution-out Regression
Thurs. 9/26	Omar Melikechi Harvard University	Integrated path stability selection
Thurs. 10/3	Hannah Correia Johns Hopkins University	Leveraging flexible models with interpretable ML and eXplainable AI approaches for causal reasoning in complex systems
Thurs. 10/10	Mary Lai O. Salvaña University of Connecticut	Multi- and Mixed-Precision Computations for Spatial and Spatio-Temporal Statistics
Thurs. 10/17	Michael Stein Rutgers University	Spatial Interpolation with Estimated Covariance Functions
Thurs. 10/24	Lulu Kang University of Massachusetts Amherst	Tutorial on Gaussian Process and Bayesian Optimization
Thurs. 10/31	Jialin Li University of Massachusetts Amherst	Convergence Rate Results in Black-Box Optimization with Surrogate Models
Thurs. 11/7	Ben Rogers University of Massachusetts Amherst	Bayesian Covariance Modeling for Longitudinal Zero-Inflated Count Data
Thurs. 11/21	Erik Learned-Miller University of Massachusetts Amherst	Confidence bounds on the mean: what is possible?
Thurs. 12/5	Carlos Soto University of Massachusetts Amherst	Functional Gaussian Differential Privacy for Private 3D Human Faces

Spring 2024

Date	Speaker	Title
Wed. 2/7	Ted Westling University of Massachusetts Amherst	Debiased inference for a covariate-adjusted regression function
Wed. 2/14	Katherine Moore Amherst College	Cohesion: A Social Perspective on Clustering
Wed. 2/21	Xi Ning Colby College	A semiparametric Cox-Aalen transformation model with censored data
Wed. 2/28	James Matuk University of Pittsburgh	Bayesian modeling of nearly mutually orthogonal processes
Wed. 3/6	Carlos Soto University of Massachusetts Amherst	Applications of Elastic Shape Analysis
Wed. 3/13	Maryclare Griffin UMass Amherst	Log-Gaussian Cox process modeling of large spatial lightning data using spectral and Laplace approximations
Wed. 3/27	Tim Rudner	Data-Driven Priors for Trustworthy Machine Learning
Wed. 4/10	Claire Bowen Urban Institute	Navigating Data Privacy in Public Policy to Responsibly Represent People in Data
Wed. 4/17	Chih-Li Sung Michigan State University	Stacking Designs: Designing Multifidelity Computer Experiments with Target Predictive Accuracy
Wed. 4/24	Peng Ding UC Berkeley	Causal inference in network experiments: regression-based analysis and design-based properties

Fall 2023

Date	Speaker	Title
Wed. 9/13	Rebecca Kurtz-Garcia Smith College	Bandwidth Selection for Zero Lugsail Estimators
Wed. 9/20	Tirthankar Dasgupta Rutgers University	Design-based inference: thoughts, methods, algorithms
Wed. 9/27	Burcu Eke Rubini University of New Hampshire	Mixed Models and Q-Connectivity Graphs for Children’s Play Networks
Wed. 10/4	Qiong Zhang Clemson University	Statistical Designs for Network A/B Testing
Wed. 10/11	Yuxin Tao Tsinghua University	Statistical Inference for stable asymmetric GARCH models
Wed. 10/18	Yiqi (Annie) Tang Colby College	Empirical priors inference in sparse high-dimensional generalized linear models
Wed. 10/25	David Jensen University of Massachusetts Amherst	Do observational causal inference methods really work?
Wed. 11/1	Kengo Kato Cornell University	Entropic optimal transport: stability, limit theorems, and algorithms
Wed. 11/8	Dipak Dey University of Connecticut	Generalized Variable Selection Algorithms for Gaussian Process Models
Wed. 11/15	Arman Oganisian Brown University	Bayesian Semiparametric Models for Informatively Timed Sequential Treatments
Fri. 12/8	Maoran Xu Duke University	Identifiable and interpretable nonparametric factor analysis
Mon. 12/11	Jing Ouyang University of Michigan	Covariate-Adjusted Generalized Factor Analysis with Application to Testing Fairness
Wed. 12/13	Nathan Wycoff	Exploring and Optimizing Computational Models with Gaussian Processes
Thu. 12/14	Arkajyoti Saha	Inference for machine learning under dependence
Fri. 12/15	Satarupa Bhattacharjee	Single Index Fréchet Regression

Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Award-winning teaching, research opportunities, and interdisciplinary programs in a diverse, inclusive community of excellence.

Lederle Graduate Research Tower, 1654
University of Massachusetts Amherst
710 N. Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01003-9305, USA

Department Phone: (413) 545-2762
Department Fax: (413) 545-1801
Department Office: LGRT 1657