PI: Shanti S. Gupta and Mary Ellen Bock, Purdue University Proposal Number: DMS 9801130 Project: Sixth Purdue International Symposium on Statistics Abstract: This international symposium will be held from June 17 to 21, 1998, at Purdue University. The symposium consists of a workshop June 17-19 on "Synthesis and Interfaces of Major Statistical Paradigms" and a conference June 19-21 on "Statistical Decision Theory and Related Topics". The workshop will focus on the major approaches such as frequentist, Bayesian, likelihood, and bootstrap paradigms. The different paradigms are not simply separate approaches that should be developed individually, but are instead pieces of the puzzle of statistical inference that must be fit together. One of the primary purposes of the conference on decision theory is to use the unifying nature of decision theory to enhance cross-fertilization among apparently disparate areas of statistics. The conference is a natural adjunct to the workshop. Statistical decision theory is increasingly used in modeling and analysis of decision problems in business, economics, medicine, law, reliability and quality control, risk assessment, and numerous other fields. It attempts to provide a formal approach to decision making and statistical inference by asking that explicit numerical criteria be given and that the merits of a statisitcal procedure or decision be assessed by these criteria. The broad topics for the conference include classical subjects within or related to statistical inference and decision theory. The interface workshop examines areas where the different paradigms used by statisticians may be unified in methodology. The focus is on model selection and testing, confidence sets and prediction intervals, nonparametrics and statistical computation. A large portion of the grant will go towards expenses of graduate students, new researchers, and members of underrepresented groups.
