Annual Sigma Xi Lectures at Williams to be Presented by Jerome Reiter

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., April 13, 2001–Jerome Reiter, assistant professor of statistics, will present the annual Sigma Xi lectures on Thursday and Friday, April 19-20. Both talks will be held in the Wege Auditorium (room 123) of Thompson Chemistry at 4:15 p.m. The first will focus on the question “What is Bayesian Modeling?” and Friday’s lecture will discuss “Preserving Confidentiality without Compromising Access to Data: A Radical New Approach.”

Reiter’s research focuses on methodologies for analyzing survey data. He has done research for the U.S. Bureau of the Census related to estimating population sizes in the 2000 census. His current work with the Census Bureau, which is the subject of the talk on April 20, examines ways agencies can release public-use data sets that have fine detail but do not compromise survey respondents’ confidentiality. The methods Reiter uses in this work are based on Bayesian modeling, which is the subject of the talk on April 19. Bayesian modeling provides principled approaches to complicated data analysis. Researchers increasingly employ it across disciplines, yet it is seldom taught in introductory statistical courses.

Reiter also has interests in developing methods for determining causality in studies where random assignment of units to treatments is not possible. He has served as consultant to the Shriver Center at the Harvard Medical School, helping to prepare psychological and medical research grant proposals, and as an actuary analyzing pension liabilities for several Fortune 500 companies. He also serves as a statistical advisor to the North Star Project, which works to improve the health status of children in Berkshire County.

Reiter, who came to Williams in 1999, has taught several introductory statistics courses as well as a senior seminar on creating surveys. While a teaching fellow at Harvard University, he received several distinguished teaching awards. Reiter’s papers have been published in several academic journals, including the American Mathematical Monthly and the Journal of Official Statistics. He also writes on the process of teaching statistics, including an article in the book “Voice of Experience” which focused on how activity-based lessons can make math classes more appealing to more students.

Reiter received his B.S. in mathematics from Duke University in 1992 and his Ph.D. in statistics from Harvard University in 1999.

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