CHDH Seminar Series 2020: Introduction to the Melbourne Centre for Data Science — Howard Bondell

Presenter: Howard Bondell

Date: Monday 6 April

Time: 12 - 1 PM

Location: Via Zoom. Please use this link at the time of the event to join: https://unimelb.zoom.us/j/776273512

Seminar Description: This presentation will have two parts: The first part will be a research talk targeted at a general audience with background knowledge in statistics. The second part will briefly introduce a new University centre and enable time for a discussion on how CHDH can get involved.

Variable Selection for Decision-Making in Individualised Treatments

Individualised treatment, which relies on the ability to identify and prescribe subject-specific treatments, is an important application of using data in the context of decision-making. For this purpose, it is crucial to identify the variables that impact the optimal treatment decision. Typical variable selection techniques focus on a different target, in that they select variables that are important for prediction, which are not necessarily those that are important for treatment assignment. In fact, the two sets of variables are often quite different in practice. We propose a general framework to test for, and identify, the important variables for the goal of treatment decision-making.

Melbourne Centre for Data Science

The Melbourne Centre for Data Science is a newly approved University centre whose mission is to enable deeper exploration into methodological foundations underpinning the data rich world, unlocking intelligence for interdisciplinary application and advancement. The centre vision is to create a vibrant, research rich and engaging interdisciplinary environment leading advances in data science for the benefit of society. I will briefly introduce the centre and hope to enable a discussion to identify how CHDH and others across campus can best be involved in the mission, vision, and activities of the centre.

Presenter Bio: Howard Bondell is Professor of Statistical Data Science, Co-Director of the Melbourne Centre for Data Science, and Deputy Head of the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne, where he has been since 2018.

Professor Bondell received his PhD in Statistics from Rutgers University in 2005 and immediately commenced his academic career in the Department of Statistics at North Carolina State University. He was elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2017 and is currently supported on an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (2020-2024).

His research interests include model selection, robust estimation, regularisation, Bayesian methods, and all aspects of modelling and handling uncertainty in statistical and machine learning approaches.

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For more information about the Melbourne Centre for Data Science click here.