October 2019
Esther Williams in the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Pool: Some Thoughts on Complexity
Daniel Simpson (University of Toronto)
E18-304
IDS.190 – Topics in Bayesian Modeling and Computation Speaker: Daniel Simpson (University of Toronto) Abstract: Abstract: As data becomes more complex and computational modelling becomes more powerful, we rapidly find ourselves beyond the scope of traditional statistical theory. As we venture beyond the traditional thunderdome, we need to think about how to cope with this additional complexity in our model building. In this talk, I will talk about a few techniques that are useful when specifying prior distributions and building Bayesian…
Find out more »Accurate Simulation-Based Parametric Inference in High Dimensional Settings
Maria-Pia Victoria-Feser (University of Geneva)
E18-304
Abstract: Accurate estimation and inference in finite sample is important for decision making in many experimental and social fields, especially when the available data are complex, like when they include mixed types of measurements, they are dependent in several ways, there are missing data, outliers, etc. Indeed, the more complex the data (hence the models), the less accurate are asymptotic theory results in finite samples. This is in particular the case, for example, with logistic regression, with possibly also random effects…
Find out more »The Age of Information in Networks: Moments, Distributions, and Sampling
Roy Yates (Rutgers University)
32-155
We examine a source providing status updates to monitors through a network with state defined by a continuous-time finite Markov chain. Using an age of information (AoI) metric, we characterize timeliness by the vector of ages tracked by the monitors. Based on a stochastic hybrid systems (SHS) approach, we derive first-order linear differential equations for the temporal evolution of both the age moments and a moment generating function (MGF) of the age vector components. We show that the existence of…
Find out more »FinTech in China and the extension of new organizational firm boundary
Zixia Sheng (New Hope Financial Services)
E18-304
Speaker: Zixia Sheng, CEO, New Hope Financial Services Abstract: Recent new technologies (Fintech and 5G) have had a profound impact on extending the boundaries of firms into more complicated financial ecology system. Nowadays in China, a typical traditional loan underwriting procedure within a bank has been fulfilled by different external parties (e.g. online portals, marketing agencies, data vendors, risk modelers, trusts, funds, invest bankers, debt collectors). How new technology could improve information sharing, reduce transaction costs/contractual costs and therefore change…
Find out more »November 2019
LIDS@80: A Celebration
Tang Building (E51)
We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the LIDS 80th-anniversary celebration. This free event will take place on November 1-2, 2019 at MIT. Advance registration is required. Registration closes on October 3, 2019.
Find out more »SES PhD Admissions Webinar
Ali Jadbabaie (MIT)
Learn about admission to the Social and Engineering Systems Doctoral Program. Webinars are led by a member of the IDSS faculty who introduces the program and answers your questions. Please register in advance.
Find out more »Causal Inference in the Age of Big Data
Jasjeet Sekhon (UC Berkeley)
E18-304
The rise of massive data sets that provide fine-grained information about human beings and their behavior offers unprecedented opportunities for evaluating the effectiveness of social, behavioral, and medical treatments. With the availability of fine-grained data, researchers and policymakers are increasingly unsatisfied with estimates of average treatment effects based on experimental samples that are unrepresentative of populations of interest. Instead, they seek to target treatments to particular populations and subgroups. Because of these inferential challenges, Machine Learning (ML) is now being…
Find out more »SES PhD Admissions Info Session
Ali Jadbabaie (MIT)
E18-304
Learn about admission to the Social and Engineering Systems Doctoral Program. Info session is hosted by a member of the IDSS faculty and an SES student who introduce the program and answer your questions. Please register in advance.
Find out more »Lenka Zdeborova (Institut de Physique Théorique, CNRS)
E18-304
TBD
Find out more »