Proposal Number: DMS 9803801 PI: Jian-Jian Ren Institution: Tulane University Project: The Clifford Conference Abstract: The 1998 Clifford Lecture and Conference, which will take place in October of 1998 at Tulane University. The 1998 Clifford Lecturer is Professor Peter Bickel of University of California - Berkeley, who will give a series of 3 lecturers on "The Method of Sieves in Non- and Semiparametric Statistics". During the conference, there will be 10-15 invited speakers giving talks related to Professor Bickel's main lectures. These lectures and talks will: (a) compare and contrast the fields by examples, discuss how bootstrap methodology fits into this framework, introduce the method of sieves; (b) discuss and review various applications of the method of sieves to function estimation, Haar wavelet based tests, AR sieve bootstrap, and more general use of orthonormal based or families of bases or atoms in density estimation and other contexts; (c) discuss the relation of the method of sieves to model selection and the great challenge: Selecting Tuning Parameters. The 1998 Clifford Lecture and Conference will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to meet and discuss the current issues in statistical theory and practice. This is particularly beneficial to junior researchers, graduate students and faculty from southern universities in or near Louisiana.
