Each year in the fall, the Department of Statistics awards talented graduate students for the Z.W. Birnbaum award and the Dorothy M. Gilford teaching award. The Z.W. Birnbaum award recognizes a PhD student for demonstrating outstanding progress and promise in theoretical, methodological, or applied research on the basis of their General Examination, while the Dorothy M. Gilford teaching award recognizes outstanding performances by a graduate teaching assistant during the past year.
We are proud to announce the 2021-2022 award recipients.
Z.W. Birnbaum award recipients:
“Lang’s presentation was excellent. The delivery of the content was well articulated, clear and organized. In his presentation, Lang demonstrated not only a deep understanding of the mathematical aspects of the problem, but also of the scientific context and the significance of his contributions.” – Assistant Professor Carlos Cinelli
“Overall, this was a fantastic exam presenting work on two very strong manuscripts that were shared with her committee ahead of time. Anna has my strongest recommendation for this year’s Birnbaum Award.” – Professor Daniela Witten
Dorothy M. Gilford teaching award recipients:
“Jess did an exceptional job in all aspects of her TA duties. In particular, this class (STAT/CSSS 567) draws from a really wide background of students with some students looking for more technical background to do dissertations that involve building network models and others hoping to get really practical advice on analyzing network data. Jess did a fantastic job at serving both kinds of students and in particular excelled in preparing materials for sections and review. – Associate Professor Tyler McCormick
“I had the unique pleasure of working with Alana when she assisted me as a TA during all three quarters of the Academic Year 2021-22. Alana’s service during AY 21-22 stands out in several respects that deserve special recognition. I believe that the Dorothy M. Gilford Teaching Award would be a fitting recognition for someone who invested themselves as much and as successfully as Alana did in her students.” – Lecturer Will Brown
About Z.W. Birnbaum and Dorothy M. Gilford and the awards honoring them:
The Z.W. Birnbaum award was established in 1986 in honor and recognition of Dr. Zygmunt Wilhelm Birnbaum. He was a UW Professor, statistician, and mathematician who contributed to functional analysis, nonparametric testing and estimation, probability inequalities, survival distributions, competing risks, and reliability theory.
The Dorothy M. Gilford teaching award was established in 1992 in honor and recognition of Dr. Dorothy Morrow Gilford. She was a statistician who headed the Division of Mathematical Sciences at the Office of Naval Research, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences.