More About Tony Cai
More About Tony Cai
Tony Cai received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Cornell University in 1996 and is the Dorothy Silberberg Professor of Statistics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a professor in the Applied Mathematics and Computational Science Graduate Group and an Associate Scholar of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the School of Medicine at Penn.He is the recipient of the 2008 COPSS Presidents' Award, given by the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the International Biometric Society ENAR, the International Biometric Society WNAR, and the Statistical Society of Canada). Here is an interview he gave after winning the COPSS Presidents' Award. The award citation is as follows.
COPSS Presidents' Award Citation For fundamental and wide-ranging contributions to the mathematics, theory and methods of statistics, including the theory and application of wavelets, block thresholding in wavelet regression, optimality theory, adaptation in nonparametric function estimation, confidence intervals in small samples, and methods for false discovery rate control; for applications to chemical identification, medical imaging and microarray data analysis; and for outstanding contributions to the statistical profession through extensive editorial work and mentorship of students.
Tony Cai is a Fellow and a Medallion Lecturer of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS). He is the Editor of the Annals of Statistics (2010-2012). Previously he has served as an Associate Editor for the Annals of Statistics, the Journal of American Statistical Association, Statistica Sinica, and Statistics Surveys. He is a member of the editorial board of the Fronteirs of Statistics book series. He was also a Guest Editor for a special issue of Statistica Sinica on Multiscale Methods and a Guest Editor for a special issue of the Journal of Nonparametric Statistics for the Inaugural IMS-China International Conference held in Hangzhou, China in 2008.
Tony Cai has served on a number of national and international committees, including IMS Committee to Select Editors (2000 - 2003), IMS Committee on Nominations (2008 - 2009), IMS Committee on Special Lectures (2008 - 2010), COPSS Presidents' Award Committee (2009 - 2012), Review Panels of the National Science Foundation, Program Chair for the 2007 IMS Annual Meeting, and Co-Chair of the Scientific Committee for the 2009 IMS-China International Conference. He is also a director of the Board of International Chinese Statistical Association (2009 - 2011). A more complete list of his professional services can be found here.
His current research interests include high dimensional statistical inference, large-scale multiple testing, nonparametric function estimation, functional data analysis, inference for discrete distributions, and statistical decision theory. He is also interested in applications to compressed sensing, chemical identification, medical imaging and microarray data analysis. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation since 2000 through a number of research grants. You can read and download his papers and publications here.