Age: 33
Title: Assistant
Professor
Employer:
Department of
Statistics, University
of Michigan
Alma Mater: UC
Berkeley (PhD 2002)
Research Interests:
Liza Levina’s interests center on inference for high-dimensional
data, including large p small n problems, covariance estimation,
dimension reduction, and networks.
Name a statistician you admire and
What do you hate most about
tell us why.
your profession?
If I’m supposed to name a historical figure here,
The same things that everyone else does—papers
I would pick Fisher, but the most honest answer
getting rejected, particularly by incompetent ref-
would have to be my advisor, Peter Bickel. Not
erees. Dealing with bureaucracy. The time pres-
only because of his work, but because of the great
sure of tenure track. Also, that every doctor and
positive influence he’s had on so many people’s
nurse I’ve ever met felt obliged to tell me how
lives and careers.
much they hated statistics in college.
What do you love most about
What was the best career advice you
your profession?
were given?
When something you’ve been struggling with
Co-advising graduate students. We have all had
finally works, be it a proof or a piece of code.
conversations with colleagues that end in “we
When you are collaborating with someone and
should really talk more about this,” and then
know that, together, you are doing work neither
nothing happens because no one has time. But,
of you could have produced on your own. When
if you get a joint student, then the collaboration
a student just understood something you’ve been
really will happen.
explaining and you can see it’s a fascinating revela-
tion for them. Of course, all these things are not
What is one web site/blog you can’t
unique to statistics. As for statistics, itself, the fact
go a day without visiting?
that almost everyone needs it is a nice bonus.
None. After my daughter was born (she’s almost
three now), my free time has become much too
scarce to spend it on reading blogs.
What is something your friends
would be surprised to learn about you?
I think they’ll be quite surprised to see me do this
article…
SEPTEMBER 2008 AMSTAT NEWS 47
SEPTEMBER AMSTAT FINAL.indd 47 8/20/08 2:27:05 PM
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