New and Evolving Roles of Shrinkage in Large-Scale Prediction and Inference (19w5188)

The Banff International Research Station will host the "New and Evolving Roles of Shrinkage in Large-Scale Prediction and Inference" workshop in Banff from April 7 to April 12, 2019.

In recent years, statistical shrinkage methods have been widely used to answer science and policy questions in experiments and instances that involve inferences and predictions based on big-data sets. Current methodologies provide robust, scalable inferential techniques in solving complex problems in a wide range of application areas spanning biological sciences, health-care management, public policy, economics, finance and general operations. Motivated by these diverse applications, there has been a prolific growth in computationally scalable shrinkage methodology development, which has led to the usage of several innovative, popular shrinkage heuristics.

Our theoretical understanding of the effectiveness of traditional shrinkage algorithms is built on some of the most elegant and seminal works in statistical decisions theory. In this avenue, several new theoretical phenomena and results characterizing the efficacy of shrinkage in modern large-scale applications and big-data regimes have recently been developed. It is an opportune time to consolidate and unify these recent progresses in the dual frontiers of applications and theory to build a robust inferential framework for the disciplined development and analysis of shrinkage methods that take into account the increasing complexities of the data. This workshop will provide a platform where researchers could exchange ideas and start collaboration on scientific projects and is intended to bring together the leaders in this field, representatives of application areas, and promising young researchers to charter the path for future development in the field.

The Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS) is a collaborative Canada-US-Mexico venture that provides an environment for creative interaction as well as the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and methods within the Mathematical Sciences, with related disciplines and with industry. The research station is located at The Banff Centre in Alberta and is supported by Canada's Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Alberta's Advanced Education and Technology, and Mexico's Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT).