Statistics
With Big Data on the Rise, Blitzstein Boosts Stats at Harvard
Despite growing interest nationwide in statistics and “big data” over the past decade, students and faculty in the department have said that much of the new excitement for the field at Harvard is due to Blitzstein’s personal commitment to teaching and the enormous influence he has had on the undergraduate body.
Chess with Blitzstein & Elkies: The Pawn is Mightier than the Sword
Both Blitzstein and Elkies are known to be terrific chess players. Blitzstein is ranked as an “Expert” by the US Chess Federation, placing him in the 98th percentile of tournament players. Elkies is ranked even one step higher as a “Master,” and specializes in solving and composing chess problems. Both have been playing chess for as long as they can remember, but the serious mathematicians have found it difficult to find time for their favorite game at Harvard. FM asked the two to revive their passion for a quick match of speed chess.
Fall Course Enrollments, Fall 2010-2013
Ec 10a was Harvard's highest-enrolled course this semester, narrowly beating out the rising CS50.
CS50, Stat 110 See Continued Increases in Enrollment
In fall 2009, computer science lecturer David J. Malan welcomed 337 aspiring coders to his introductory computer science course CS50. Four years later, the course’s enrollment has more than doubled, closing in on—but just failing to surpass—the introductory economics course Ec 10a as Harvard’s most popular class.
Concentration Satisfaction: Class of 2012
As freshmen enter the second week of Advising Fortnight, Flyby presents a complete set of data from the Class of 2012's concentration satisfaction ratings. For all freshmen looking to narrow down the list of potential concentrations, sophomores or juniors curious about their chosen concentrations, and seniors reflecting on their undergraduate careers, here are the stats from last year's graduating seniors on how satisfied they were with their respective concentrations. Check out our four interactive graphs showing overall satisfaction rates among Humanities, Natural Sciences, SEAS, and Social Sciences concentrators in the Class of 2012.
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On Wednesday night in the Science Center, a panel discusses how they incorporate statistics with their professions. Representatives from Applied Predictive Technologies, DC Energy, AlphaSimplex Group, Milliman, and Obama for America join Professor Joseph K. Blitzstein in talking about how statistics classes translate into the real world. This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: CORRECTION: April 8, 2013 An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the names of several companies that sent representatives to a panel discussing statistics in the professional world. In fact, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and Getco LLC did not participate in the event, while AlphaSimplex Group, Milliman, and Obama for America did.
Ben Zauzmer Wins Oscars
With the Academy Awards now over, Flyby caught up with Harvard's very own Oscar guru Ben Zauzmer '15. Zauzmer, who published data predicting the Oscar wins, used available data pertaining to the nominees to predict the likelihood they would go home with an Oscar. Zauzmer tells Flyby how the math matched up to the winning movies.
Harvard Thinks Big 4: What You Missed
Harvard Thinks Big rang in its fourth year on Thursday, featuring seven celebrity/professor speakers with 12 minutes each to present the next—you guessed it—big idea. Although Drew Faust couldn't make it (allegations were made that she was off in LA lobbying the Academy of Motion Pictures for Lincoln), people still packed into Sanders Theatre to attend the event, one of Harvard's newest traditions. In case you missed it, here is our tl;dr version of the two hour event.
'The End of Courtship' at Harvard?
In 2013, you will probably have a lot of questions about love. These should be five of them: 1. If Ivy Leaguers are refuting The End of Courtship, are they endorsing The End of Empircal Reasoning? 2. Which came first: The End of Courtship, or The End of Men? 3. Was The End of Men before The End of Sex? 4. Would you rather The End of Sex With Men before Courtship, or The End of Courtship with Men before Sex? 5. Is it a coincidence that, as we are battered with The Ends of Everything Sexy, we can turn manically and trustingly to The Beginning of Second Season of "Girls"?
John L. Ezekowitz
When John L. Ezekowitz ’13 received a call from an area code he’d never seen during the middle of his econometrics class sophomore year, he felt it might be important, so he stepped out to take the call.
