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Taking place every April since 2009, our doctoral students organize the Minghui Yu Memorial Conference. The conference features talks by keynotes speakers and students just beginning a research program to those who are about to defend dissertations. This event is also an occasion to remember our friend and colleague, Minghui Yu, and an opportunity to learn about exciting new research areas emerging from our department.
This conference functions as an internal research retreat. It is by invitation only, and primarily for faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, and PhD students from the Department of Statistics. The conference aims to facilitate sharing on ongoing research projects within the department, foster idea exchange, promote collaboration, and strengthen community bonds.
About Minghui Yu
Minghui was born in Shandong, China in 1983. In 2002, he entered the Special Class for the Gifted Young at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), one of the most prestigious universities in China. Minghui possessed the rare quality of being not only smart, but also diligent, versatile, modest, and easy-going. He was the type of friend who would stand by you no matter the situation. Minghui breezed through the challenging undergraduate program at USTC, ranking at the top of his class. Minghui was well-liked by his fellow students having served as the class president from his sophomore year. Although under enormous academic pressure, he still found time to organize a series of student activities, such as hiking, art performances, and athletic contests for his fellow students.
After graduating summa cum laude in 2006 from USTC, Minghui entered the Ph.D. program at the Physics Department of Columbia University. After one year, he transferred to the doctorate program in statistics. During his time at Columbia, Minghui served as the public relations head of the Columbia University’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association (2007-2008) and was a member of the Columbia Chinese Basketball Association and the Columbia Graduate Student Consulting Club. His biography on the CUCSSA website mentioned his love of ”movies, photography and delicacies”. Minghui described himself in his blog as ”a boy who wants to combine art and science together”.
On April 4, 2008, after attending a student-organized conference, Minghui escorted his girlfriend home on the west side of campus. On his return, he was accosted by juveniles as he was crossing 122nd and Broadway and in his attempt to flee, he was struck by an automobile on Broadway. Minghui was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital where he passed away a short time later.
Keynote Speaker: Professor Jennifer Hill, NYU
Conference Organizer: Hane Lee
Location: 110 Uris
Keynote Speaker: Professor Bin Yu, UC Berkeley
Conference Organizer: Collin Cademartori
Keynote Speaker: Professor Amy Herring, Duke University
Conference Organizer: Casey Bradshaw
Keynote Speakers: Professor Johannes Ruf, London School of Economics and
Professor Tyler McCormick, University of Washington
Conference Organizer: Andrew Davison
Keynote Speaker: Professor Edward I. George, UPenn
Conference Organizer: Florian Stebegg
Keynote Speaker: Professor Persi Diaconis, Stanford University
Conference Organizer: Wenda Zhou
Keynote Speaker: Professor Harrison Zhou, Yale University
Conference Organizer: Morgane Austern
Keynote Speaker: Professor David Dunson, Duke University
Conference Organizer: Phyllis Wan
Keynote Speaker: Professor Peter McCullagh, University of Chicago
Conference Organizer: Benjamin Reddy
Keynote Speaker: Professor James Berger, Duke University
Conference Organizer: Wei Wang
Keynote Speaker: Professor Stephen E. Fienberg, Carnegie Mellon
Conference Organizer: Radka Pickova
Keynote Speaker: Professor Jianqing Fan, Princeton
Conference Organizer: Stephanie Zhang
Keynote Speaker: Professor J. Michael Steele, UPenn
Conference Organizers: Shawn Simpson and Ekaterina Vinkovskaya
Keynote Speaker: Professor Xiao-Li Meng, Harvard
Conference Organizers: Tyler McCormick and Johannes Ruf