The SSC congratulates members Augustine Wigle (Wilfrid Laurier University) and Audrey Béliveau (University of Waterloo) for winning the 2026 ASA Outstanding Statistical Application Award for their paper "Estimating methane emissions from the upstream oil and gas industry using a multi-stage framework", published in JRSS-A (available open access).

The award recognizes the authors of papers that demonstrate an outstanding application of statistics, addressing a significant problem in a substantive field with ingenuity and novelty. Congratulations, Augustine and Audrey!

About the paper: Accurate quantification of methane emissions from the oil and gas industry and its accompanying uncertainty is necessary to track progress towards (or away from) emissions reductions targets aimed at combatting climate change. Previous approaches to this problem either overlook uncertainty entirely, or are highly parametric, computationally intensive, and difficult to interpret and implement. The paper provides an interpretable and computationally feasible design-based approach to estimating methane emissions using aerial survey data.

About the award: https://www.amstat.org/your-career/awards/outstanding-statistical-application-award