This integrated program of research and education is a renewal of the previous VIGRE grant to the Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley. It supports undergraduate research experiences, graduate traineeships, and postdoctoral fellowships in a vertically integrated manner.
At the undergraduate level, the objective is to increase the attraction and quality of the undergraduate program and thereby to increase the number of undergraduate majors and the number going on to graduate work in the mathematical sciences. The project supports undergraduate research experiences, integrated with the research of graduate students, postdocs, and faculty. At the graduate level, training in teaching and communication skills and education enables graduates to participate in interdisciplinary research and contribute to the core theory and methodology of probability and statistics. At the postdoctoral level, researchers are prepared for careers in academia, industry, or government by providing them a stimulating research atmosphere along with mentoring for teaching and research. Fellows develop independent research programs and broad perspectives. This support adds vitality to the small but successful postdoctoral program and enhances the graduate and undergraduate programs through vertical integration of research and education. Recruitment and retention of an increased number and diversity of domestic students is an important goal of the project. The funds support 10 graduate traineeships, three postdoctoral fellowships and 12 undergraduates per year. The VIGRE program is active during the nine months of the academic year and for two summer months. The program includes significant outreach and dissemination components, a management plan, and evaluation procedures.
Statistical ideas play a key role in the modern information age. Stochastic models and methods are essential components of research and applications across a vast spectrum of fields. The opportunities and challenges are enormous. This project addresses them by infusing ideas, energy, and resources in an integrated way in all levels of the educational program, from the undergraduate major to the postdoctoral experience, recruiting students at all these levels and preparing them to participate in the extraordinary range of opportunities now available in the mathematical sciences.
Researchers will be trained to work at frontiers found at the nexus with interdisciplinary research, with a resulting impact beyond the disciplines of probability and statistics. Through dissemination, innovations will be spread to other institutions. The program also includes the development of educational materials, which will have impact on the broader community.
The NSF grant (DMS 0636667) to the statistics department at the University of California-Berkeley (from September 1, 2007 through August 31, 2013) supported 43 U.S. PhD graduate students. It enabled research experience for 32 undergraduate students in statistics and probability working side by side with graduate students, postdocs (including 3 supported by this grant), and faculty. The grant enabled increased preparedness of U.S. graduate students for our PhD program through summer camps and through workshops regarding logistics, such as applying for graduate research fellowships. Additionally, graduate students were able to participate in research earlier in their graduate career due to increased number of reading groups and summer research opportunities. The grant enabled the development of educational materials in probability and statistics (e.g., a new popular undergraduate upper division course on "computing with data"), which have been disseminated in the mathematical sciences community at large through summer schools, websites, and journal articles. A total of 23 Ph.D. degrees have been awarded (partially supported by this grant) based on excellent and diverse research in cutting-edge theories of statistics and probability and solving interdisciplinary data problems ranging from genomics, neuroscience, environmental science, to media analysis. The grant made it possible to prepare undergraduate students for jobs and graduate school, and for graduate and undergraduate and postdocs to contribute to public events that promoted mathematical sciences. The grant made it possible to increase the number of U.S. students by 21% in addition to the representation of women by 4% and under-represented groups by 17% in the statistics PhD program at University of California - Berkeley. Caption for Image 1: Model of a DNA sequencing experiment. Caption for Image 2: Algorithm delineates regions of genome which are highly mutated. Source: Bloniarz et al. Change point analysis for efficient variant calling. Proceedings of RECOMB 2014, in press.
