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On April 12-15, 2019, the Risk Management, Economic Sustainability, and Actuarial Science Development in Indonesia (READI) Project, funded by Global Affairs Canada, conducted a short course on “Financial Engineering I” in Jakarta, Indonesia. The training was the 11 of the series of short course held in collaboration with the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ in which the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science faculty members have led the teaching on all short courses. Prof. Ken Seng Tan, PhD, ASA, CERA, and Sunlife Fellowship in International Actuarial Science, was the instructor of the four days intensive training program. READI also invited Steven Chen, FSA, FCIA, CFA, MAA, an alumni of the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ, as the guest speaker to provide a practitioners’ perspective on Financial Engineering.

Read the full article and learn more about the READI project on their website.

The has ranked the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ the number one non-business, degree-granting school worldwide. ��ݮ��Ƶ was ranked first in both the number of papers in the leading risk and insurance journal, as well as in the top four leading actuarial journals.

“I am extremely proud of the results of the UNL rankings,” said Stefan Steiner, Chair of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science. “Ranking first worldwide in the non-business school list is testament to the strong research happening at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ.”

The ���ɲ���������Peijun Sang as the winner of the 2019 Pierre Robillard Award of the Statistical Society of Canada. This prize recognizes the best PhD thesis in probability or statistics defended at a Canadian university in a given year. Peijun’s thesis, entitled “New Methods and Models in Functional Data Analysis" was written while he was a doctoral student at the Simon Fraser University, working under the supervision of Jiguo Cao.

His current research interests are focused on functional data analysis methods. Data from electroencephalogram signals, function magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging are important examples. He is interested in applying functional data analysis techniques to study functional connectivity between imaging data collected from different regions of the brain. He is concerned with large sample properties of high dimensional functional regression models that have been proposed for this type of data. He is also interested in dependence modelling with copulas for discrete and time-to-event outcomes.

Professor Mu Zhu of Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at University of ��ݮ��Ƶ is elected Fellow of the . The citation reads: “For outstanding research contributions to statistical learning in recommender systems, ensemble approaches to variable selection, unbalanced classification and rare target detection; and service to the profession.”

The designation of ASA Fellow has been a significant honor for nearly 100 years. Under ASA bylaws, the Committee on Fellows can elect up to one-third of one percent of the total association membership as fellows each year.

The 2019 class of ASA Fellows will be formally presented at the award session at this year’s Joint Statistical Meetings in Denver, Colorado.

Researchers have discovered that stocks listed on the market for between 10 and 20 years could be in a sweet spot for investment. 

The new study from the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ suggests that investing in stocks listed on the market for between 10 and 20 years could – on average – increase your expected returns.

“It is widely believed that smaller companies generally outperform larger companies on the stock market,” said Tony Wirjanto, a professor jointly appointed in ��ݮ��Ƶ’s School of Accounting and Finance and Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science. “But we have found that in the last 20 years, the age of a stock has a much more profound effect on the expected return. The idea is that you shouldn’t just look at the size, but the age of the stocks, if you actually want to do well on the market.”

The University of ��ݮ��Ƶ’s Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science welcomed more than 80 guests this week for the first annual ��ݮ��Ƶ Conference in Statistics, Actuarial Science and Finance (WatSAF).

Every April, math and statistics associations across the country celebrate Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month, a full month of programs and initiatives dedicated to promoting better public understanding of mathematics and statistics. ASA programs include a , , and with working professionals! We hope you enjoy these fun opportunities to participate and share them with your friends and colleagues.

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��ݮ��Ƶ helps Indonesian university launch co-op program

On March 12, Bill Duggan, the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ’s READI Project Field Director, joined with Dr. Totok Prasetyo, Director of Institutional Development of Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti), Abdullah Mojadeddi, First Secretary of the Embassy of Canada and Prof. Djisman Simandjuntak, Rector, Prasetiya Mulya University, to open Indonesia’s first Co-operative Education Office at Prasetiya Mulya University.

As one of the READI Project’s first Indonesian university stakeholders, Prasetiya Mulya University embraced the co-operative education model immediately. They have devoted significant time and resources over the past two years to adapting their educational structure as they pioneered the development of this very effective type of work-integrated learning.

Statistics and Actuarial Science PhD candidate Rui Qiao was one of the six students who won the 2019 Huawei Prize for Best Research Paper by a Mathematics Graduate Student. This award recognizes the impact of his  with a prize of $4,000.

The Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science congratulates the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ Team, consisting of Ryan Goldford, Jasmine Sirohi, Adaijah Wilson, and Jillian Zhu Ge, for winning the 2019 Munich Re Cup. The Munich Re Cup is the premier actuarial case competition open to students in Canada and the United States. Competing teams present their work on a real-world business problem requiring significant technical analysis and high-level business decision making to a panel of Munich Re executives. The 2019 competition examined the very timely problem of IFRS 17 implementation. We are very proud of the ��ݮ��Ƶ team for placing first and winning the $20,000 grand prize!