SECTION EXECUTIVES

(Three-year terms; 2017-20)

ACTUARIAL SCIENCE SECTION EXECUTIVE 

PRESIDENT-ELECT [President, 2018-19; Past President, 2019-20] 

Jean-François Renaud, Université du Québec à Montréal 
 

Jean-François Renaud is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM). Before joining UQÀM in 2010, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo (2008-2010) and a postdoctoral researcher at the Radon Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (2007-2008). He received his PhD in Mathematics from Université de Montréal in 2007. His research is focused on the applications of stochastic processes in ruin theory, actuarial finance and financial mathematics. Jean-François was the first director of Quantact, the CRM lab in actuarial and financial mathematics, and he is a co-founder of the Workshop on Insurance Mathematics (WIM), a workshop in the broad area of insurance mathematics.

BIOSTATISTICS SECTION EXECUTIVE 

PRESIDENT-ELECT  [President, 2018-19; Past President, 2019-20] 
 
Patrick Brown, University of Toronto / Action Cancer Ontario
 

Patrick E. Brown is a Scientist in the Division of Analytics and Informatics of Cancer Care Ontario and an Associate Professor in the Department of Statistical Sciences at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on models and inference methodologies for spatio-temporal data, motivated by problems in spatial epidemiology and public health. Current methodological research involves Bayesian inference for non-Gaussian spatial data, and non-parametric methods for spatially aggregated and censored locations. He has developed and maintains several R packages for modelling and visualizing spatial data. His collaborative work involves both clinical research and problems in public health. Activities in the SSC have included 6 years as treasurer to the Biostatistics Section, member of the Finance Committee, and local organizer of the 2014 SSC conference in Toronto.

 

BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS SECTION EXECUTIVE 

PRESIDENT-ELECT  [President, 2018-19; Past President, 2019-20]  

Chunfang Devon Lin, Queen’s University
 

Devon Lin is currently an Associate Professor and Chair of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Queen’s University. She obtained her MSc and PhD degrees in Statistics from Simon Fraser University (2004, 2008). She has been a Local Representative of Queen`s University to SSC and will serve on the committee for the Distinguished Lecture Series in Statistics which is a joint program between the Fields Institute and CANSSI. Her research interests include experimental designs, computer experiments, uncertainty quantification and point processes.

 

PROBABILITY SECTION EXECUTIVE 

PRESIDENT-ELECT  [President, 2018-19; Past President, 2019-20

René Ferland, Université du Québec à Montréal
 

René Ferland received his PhD from the Université de Sherbrooke in 1989. After graduating he held a postdoctoral position at Carleton University before being hired at UQÀM in 1990. His research initially focused on interacting particles systems and related limit-theorems. Always interested in applied mathematics, he moved to mathematical finance where, in collaboration with other researchers, he worked on portfolio optimization problems and the analysis of financial data. Since 2013, he has been Chair of the Department of Mathematics at UQÀM.
 

TREASURER 

Gennady Shaikhet, Carleton University
 

Gennady Shaikhet is an Associate Professor of Applied Probability in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at Carleton University. Born in Ukraine, he obtained BSc degree in Mathematics from Donetsk National University in 1999. He received his MSc (2003) and PhD (2007) degrees in Statistics from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, and then spent three years as a postdoctoral associate at Carnegie Mellon University. Gennady joined Carleton in 2010. His research interests are stochastic processes and applications. In particular, approximations and control of large scale service systems in communications, computer networks, financial markets and, most recently, health care.

STATISTICAL EDUCATION SECTION EXECUTIVE 

PRESIDENT-ELECT [President, 2018-19; Past President, 2019-20]  

Asokan Variyath, Memorial University of Newfoundland
 

Asokan Mulayath Variyath is an Associate Professor of Statistics in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the Memorial University. During 1991-2001, he worked as a faculty member at SQC & OR Division of the Indian Statistical Institute. He obtained his PhD in Statistics from the University of Waterloo in 2006 and then moved to Texas A & M University as a postdoc. In 2008, he joined Memorial University as an Assistant Professor of Statistics. Asokan’s research interests are industrial statistics, design of experiments, survival analysis and longitudinal studies. He has become involved in the development of the new first year statistics course at Memorial and has also undertaken a project “Improving the Students’ Learning Process through the Use of Statistical Applets”. He has served the SSC as a member of the Student Travel Grants Committee.
 

SURVEY METHODS SECTION EXECUTIVE

PRESIDENT-ELECT [President, 2018-19; Past President, 2019-20] 

Susie Fortier, Statistics Canada 
 

 
Susie Fortier is currently an Assistant Director in the Business Survey Methods Division at Statistics Canada, where she has been working for the last 17 years. She received a Bachelor degree in statistics and a Masters degree in mathematics from the Université de Sherbrooke. She is interested in the evolution of the technical skills required to address survey methodology challenges. Her other research interests focus on time series reconciliation and benchmarking, seasonal adjustment, numerical optimisation, price index theory and SAS programming. Susie is also the production manager of the scientific journal Survey Methodology.

SECRETARY 

(Two-year term; 2017-19)

Golshid Chatrchi, Carleton University 
 

Golshid Chatrchi is a mathematical statistician at Statistics Canada. She holds an MSc degree in Statistics from Carleton University. She is currently working in the Household Survey Methods Division as a methodologist. Her research interests include small area estimation and sampling. Golshid has served the Statistical Society of Canada as a member of the Student and Recent Graduate Committee (SARGC) since 2015.