Awards, Honors, and Service

Awards, Honors, and Service

National Medal of ScienceOur faculty have always been at the leading edge of statistical research, with 2 National Medal of Science winners, 14 members of the National Academy of Science, multiple members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Guggenheim Fellows, MacArthur Fellowship ("Genius Grant") winners, and Sloan Fellows, to name just some of the awards held by our esteemed faculty.

In 2018, UC Berkeley opened Blackwell Hall, a residence hall for new freshmen located on Bancroft and Dana, named after David Blackwell, one of the department's ten founders and also the first Black professor to ever receive tenure at UC Berkeley. Learn more about Blackwell Hall.

This page summarizes some of the main awards received by the Statistics Department faculty members. 

 

Awards of a national and/or interdisciplinary nature.

National Medal of Science
  • Jerzy Neyman (1968) ("For laying the foundations of modern statistics and devising tests and procedure that have become essential parts of the knowledge of every statistician.")
  • David Blackwell (2012) a posthumous award
National Academy of Sciences
  • David Blackwell (1965)
  • Leo Goodman (1974)
  • Erich Lehmann (1978)
  • Peter Bickel (1986)
  • Charles Stone (1993)
  • Kenneth Wachter (1999)
  • Leo Breiman (2001)
  • David Freedman (John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science, 2003)
  • David Aldous (Foreign Associate, 2010)
  • Michael Jordan (2010)
  • Bin Yu (2014)
  • Steve Evans (2016)
  • Jennifer Chayes (2019)
  • Rasmus Nielsen (2022)
National Academy of Medicine
  • Nicholas P. Jewell (2017)
National Academy of Engineering
  • Michael Jordan (2010)
American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows
  • David Blackwell (1969)
  • Leo Goodman (1973)
  • Erich Lehmann (1975)
  • Peter Bickel (1986)
  • David Freedman (1991)
  • David Brillinger (1993)
  • Ken Wachter (1996)
  • David Aldous (2004)
  • Michael Jordan (2011)
  • Bin Yu (2013)
  • Jennifer Chayes (2014)
MacArthur Fellows
Guggenheim Fellowships

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

  • Erich Lehmann (1955, 1966, 1979)
  • Leo Goodman (1959)
  • Peter Bickel (1970)
  • David Brillinger (1975,1982)
  • Chuck Stone (1980)
  • Bin Yu (2006)
Sloan Research Fellowships
  • Jennifer Chayes (1989)
  • Steve Evans (1993; Mathematics)
  • Elchanan Mossel (2005; Mathematics)
  • Martin Wainwright (2005; Computer Science)
  • Sourav Chatterjee (2007; Mathematics)
  • Noureddine El Karoui (2008; Mathematics)
  • Yun S. Song (2008; Molecular Biology)
  • Benjamin Recht (2012; Mathematics)
  • Allan Sly (2012; Mathematics)
  • Shirshendu Ganguly (2019; Mathematics)
  • Rasmus Nielsen (2004)

Sloan Research Fellowships

Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering
Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research
  • Terry Speed (2008)
Victoria Prize for Science and Innovation
Australian Prime Minister's Prize for Science
CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
  • Philip Stark (1989-1995)
  • Ben Recht (2013)
Jerome Sacks Award
William R. Kenan, Jr. Visiting Professorship for Distinguished Teaching
John von Neumann Medal
  • Michael Jordan (2020)
SIAM John von Neumann Lecture Award 
  • Jennifer Chayes 2016

Awards and honors more specifically related to Statistics and associated academic fields.

Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) Presidents
  • Jerzy Neyman (1949)
  • David Blackwell (1956)
  • Erich Lehmann (1961)
  • Lucien Le Cam (1973)
  • Elizabeth Scott (1978)
  • Peter Bickel (1981)
  • David Brillinger (1995)
  • Terry Speed (2004)
  • Jim Pitman (2007)
  • Bin Yu (2014)
Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) Awards

Presidents' Award [For statistician under age 41]

  • Peter Bickel (1981)
  • David Donoho (1994)
  • Mark van der Laan (2005)
  • Martin Wainwright (2014)
  • Ryan Tibshirani (2023)

R. A. Fisher Lectureship [On statistical methods for scientific investigation]

  • Leo Goodman (1968)
  • David Blackwell (1986)
  • Erich Lehmann (1988)
  • David Brillinger (1991)
  • Terry Speed (2006)
  • Peter Bickel (2013)

F.N David Award [For female role model in statistics profession]

  • Juliet P. Shaffer (2003)

George W. Snedecor Award [For recent publication in biometry]

  • Nick Jewell and Mark van der Laan (2005)

Distinguished Achievement Award and Lectureship 

  • Bin Yu (2023)

Emerging Leader Award 

  • Peng Ding (2023)
  • Avi Feller (2023)
ASA Awards

All awards

Noether Senior Scholar Award [For Nonparametric Statistics].

  • Erich Lehmann (2000)

Outstanding Statistical Application Award [For a paper in the last two years]

  • Terry Speed (2004)

Wilks Memorial Award [For lifetime contribution to Statistics in broad sense]

  • Jerzy Neyman (1968)
  • Leo Goodman (1985)
  • Erich Lehmann (1996)
IMS Awards

All awards

Probability prizes
IMS Special Lectures

Wald Memorial Lectures

Rietz Lectures

Neyman Lectures

Grace Wahba Award and Lecture

Bernoulli Society Special Lectures

Tukey Memorial Lecture

Elected Fellowships in Professional Organizations

IMS Awards Recipients

IMS FELLOWS

  • David Aldous
  • Peter Bartlett
  • Peter Bickel
  • David Brillinger
  • Ching-Shui Cheng
  • Sandrine Dudoit
  • Noureddine El Karoui
  • Steve Evans
  • David Freedman
  • Leo Goodman
  • Alan Hammond
  • Haiyan Huang
  • Martin Wainwright
  • Michael Jordan
  • Michael Klass
  • Deborah Nolan
  • Jim Pitman
  • John Rice
  • Terry Speed
  • Bin Yu
  • Nicholas P. Jewell

ASA FELLOWS

  • Peter Bickel
  • David Brillinger
  • Ching-Shui Cheng
  • Sandrine Dudoit
  • David Freedman
  • Leo Goodman
  • Haiyan Huang
  • Michael Jordan
  • Deborah Nolan
  • John Rice
  • Julie Shaffer
  • Terry Speed
  • Philip Stark
  • Bin Yu

AMS Fellows

  • David Aldous (2012 - Inaugural class)
  • Steven N. Evans (2012 - Inaugural class)
  • David Goldschmidt (2012 - Inaugural class)
  • Charles J. Stone (2012 - Inaugural class)
  • Bernd Sturmfels (2012 - Inaugural class)

IEEE Fellows

  • Michael Jordan
  • Bin Yu

IOP Fellows

  • Philip Stark

SIAM Fellows

  • Peter Bickel (2009 - Inaugural class)
  • Michael Jordan (2012)

Fulkerson Prize

(From Mathematical Optimization Society)

  • Alistair Sinclair (2006)

ISBA Fellows

  • Michael Jordan (2014)

Royal Society of London Fellows

  • David Aldous (1994)
  • Terry Speed (2013)
  • Michael Jordan (2021)

Royal Society of Canada Fellows

  • David Brillinger (1985)

David K. Pickard Memorial Lecture

  • Deborah Nolan (2014)

Graham and Dodd Scroll Award

  • Lisa Goldberg (2012)

Putnam Fellow

  • David Brillinger (1958)

NAE Fellows

  • Mike Jordan

Mortimer Spiegelman Award

For contributions to public health (under age 40).

  • Mark van der Laan (2004)

Myrto Lefkopolou Lectureship

At Harvard Biostatistics (15 years from Ph.D.)

  • Mark van der Laan (2005)

Charles L. Odoroff Memorial Lecture

At University of Rochester.

  • Mark van der Laan (2007)

Fulkerson Prize

  • Alistair Sinclair (2006)

G. de B. Robinson Award

For best paper in the Canadian Journal of Mathematics.

  • Steve Evans (1996)

John von Neumann Medal (IEEE)

  • Michael Jordan (2020)

E.L. Scott COPSS Award (IMS)

  • Bin Yu (2018)

Nathan Manel Award (ASA)

  • Bin Yu

Ulf Grenander Prize in Stochastic Theory and Modeling (AMS)

  • Michael Jordan (2021)

Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship

  • Michael Jordan (2021-2026)

Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator Award

  • Elizabeth Purdom

John Gideon Award for Election Integrity

  • Philip Stark (2011)

Leamer-Rosenthal Prize for Transparency in Social Sciences

  • Philip Stark (2015)

Awards bestowed on faculty members by the Berkeley campus.

Distinguished Teaching Award

The Distinguished Teaching Award is for excellence in teaching.

Distinguished Research Mentor / Distinguished Faculty Advisor

Deborah Nolan (2004)

Miller Research Professorship

Miller Research Professorship

  • Erich Lehmann (1962)
  • David Brillinger (1973)
  • Peter Bickel (1979)
  • David Freedman (1990)
  • David Aldous (1993)
  • Philip Stark (1999)
  • Michael Jordan (2008, 2017)
  • Steve Evans (2002)
  • Yuval Peres (2002)
  • Bin Yu (2004, 2016)
  • John Rice (2005)
  • Terry Speed (2005)
Berkeley Citation

The Berkeley Citation is given for exceptional scholarship and (especially) exceptional service to Berkeley. Given only upon retirement.

  • Erich Lehmann (1988)
  • David Blackwell (1988)
  • Joe Hodges (1991)
  • Lucien Le Cam (1991)
  • Leo Breiman (1993)
  • Peter Bickel (2006)
  • Bin Yu (2018)
Faculty Research Lectures

Faculty Research Lectures are given by one or two faculty members who are distinguished for his/her scholarly research. Lecturers are elected by the Academic Senate.

  • Terry Speed (2012)
  • David Blackwell (1971)
UC Berkeley Faculty Service Award
  • Nicholas P. Jewell (2013)
UC Berkeley Chancellor's Award for Public Service for Research in the Public Interest
  • Philip Stark (2011)
UC Berkeley Chancellor
  • Albert Bowker (1971-1980)