Department members are also active in the international statistical community. Mike Evans serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Statistical Association, and Nancy Reid is a recent president of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and a recent editor of the Canadian Journal of Statistics. In particular, faculty in the Department have produced major work of fundamental importance in higher-order asymptotic theory and in flexible methods for data analysis, and have made sustained important contributions for many years in multivariate analysis and quality control. Other areas of especially valuable research include Bayesian inference and computation, symbolic computation, probability theory, and actuarial science including financial risk management. The reputation of the Department is based primarily on its research in statistical theory and computation, but many faculty members are also involved in cross-disciplinary work.
Teaching is also an important aspect of the department's mission.
Actuarial science courses and programs are designed to provide a strong professional background and many students successfully complete several examinations of the Society of Actuaries along with their undergraduate degree. Much statistical work is very interdisciplinary and the department has actively pursued the development of courses geared to the needs of other disciplines. Specific courses serving students in the life sciences, engineering and computer science are offered. Jeffrey Rosenthal was awarded a Faculty teaching award in 1997-98 for his outstanding teaching of probability. The Department formed as a graduate department in 1977, as part of the Department of Mathematics, and began operating as a full independent department in 1979.