Robert Kass
{{Short description|American statistician}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Robert E. Kass
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|09|07}}
| birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| nationality = American
| fields = Statistics
| workplaces = Carnegie Mellon University
| alma_mater = University of Chicago (PhD)
Antioch College (BA)
| doctoral_advisor = Stephen Stigler
| thesis_title =
| thesis_url =
| thesis_year = 1980
| known_for = Computational Neuroscience, Bayesian Statistics
| awards = R. A. Fisher Lectureship, Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
| website = {{URL|http://www.stat.cmu.edu/~kass/}}
}}
Robert E. Kass is the Maurice Falk University Professor of Statistics and Computational Neuroscience in the Department of Statistics and Data Science, the Machine Learning Department, and the Neuroscience Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.
Early life and education
Born in Boston, Massachusetts (1952), Kass earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Antioch College, and a PhD degree in Statistics from the University of Chicago in 1980, where his advisor was Stephen Stigler. Kass is the son of the late Harvard medical researcher Edward H. Kass{{Cite web|title=Edward H. Kass, M.D., Eulogy|url=https://academic.oup.com/jid/article-abstract/161/6/1055/905295?redirectedFrom=fulltext}} and stepson of the late Amalie M. Kass. His sister is the bioethicist [https://bioethics.jhu.edu/people/profile/nancy-kass/ Nancy Kass].
Research and publications
Kass's early research was on differential geometry in statistics,{{Cite journal |last=Kass |first=Robert E. |date=1989 |title=The Geometry of Asymptotic Inference (with discussion) |journal=Statistical Science |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=188–234 |doi=10.1214/SS/1177012480 |jstor=2245626 |s2cid=119728605 |doi-access=free }} which formed the basis for his book Geometrical Foundations of Asymptotic Inference{{Cite book|title=Geometrical Foundations of Asymptotic Inference|last1=Kass|first1=Robert E.|last2=Vos|first2=Paul|date=1997-03-07|isbn=9780471826682|doi=10.1002/9781118165980}} (with Paul Vos), and on Bayesian methods. Since 2000 his research has focused on statistical methods in neuroscience.
Kass's best-known work includes a comprehensive re-evaluation of Bayesian hypothesis testing and model selection,{{cite journal|last1=Kass |first1=Robert E. |last2= Raftery|first2=Adrian|date=2012-02-27|title= Bayes Factors|journal=Journal of the American Statistical Association |volume=90 |issue=430 |pages=773–795 |doi=10.1080/01621459.1995.10476572
the relationship of Bayes and Empirical Bayes methods,{{cite journal|last1=Kass |first1=Robert E. |last2= Steffey|first2=Duane|date=2012-03-12|title= Approximate Bayesian Inference in Conditionally Independent Hierarchical Models (Parametric Empirical Bayes Models)|journal=Journal of the American Statistical Association |volume=84 |issue=407 |pages=717–726 |doi= 10.1080/01621459.1989.10478825
}} Bayesian asymptotics,{{Cite journal |last1=Kass |first1=Robert E. |last2=Tierney |first2=Richard L. |date=1989 |title=Fully Exponential Laplace Approximations to Expectations and Variances of Nonpositive Functions |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01621459.1989.10478824 |journal=Journal of the American Statistical Association |volume=84 |issue=407 |pages=710–716 |doi=10.1080/01621459.1989.10478824 |s2cid=16075665 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}Kass, Robert E., Tierney, Richard L. and Kadane, Joseph B. (1990) The validity of posterior expansions based on Laplace's method, Essays in Honor of George Bernard, eds. S. Geisser, J.S. Hodges, S.J. Press, and A. Zellner, Amsterdam: North Holland, 473-488.
the application of point process statistical models to neural spiking data,{{cite journal |last1=Kass |first1=Robert E. |last2=Ventura |first2=Valerie |date=2001 |title=A spike-train probability model, Neural Computation |url=https://direct.mit.edu/neco/article/13/8/1713/6537/A-Spike-Train-Probability-Model |journal=Neural Computation |volume=13 |issue=8 |pages=1713–1720 |doi=10.1162/08997660152469314 |pmid=11506667 |s2cid=1840562 |via=MIT Press Direct}}{{cite journal|last1=DiMatteo|first1=Illaria|last2= Genovese|first2=Christopher R.|last3=Kass|first3=Robert E.|date=2001-12-01|title= Bayesian curve-fitting with free-knot splines|journal=Biometrika |volume=88 |issue=4 |pages=1055–1071|doi= 10.1093/biomet/88.4.1055
|doi-access=}}
the challenges of multiple spike train analysis,{{cite journal|last1=Brown|first1=Emery N.|last2= Mitra|first2=Partha P.|last3=Kass|first3=Robert E.|date=2004-04-27|title=Multiple neural spike train data analysis: state-of-the-art and future challenges|journal=Nature Neuroscience|volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=456–461|doi=10.1038/nn1228
|pmid=15114358|s2cid=562815 }}{{cite journal|last1=Kass|first1=Robert E.|last2= Ventura|first2=Valerie|last3=Brown|first3=Emery N.|date=2005-07-01|title=Statistical Issues in the Analysis of Neuronal Data|journal=Journal of Neurophysiology|volume=94 |issue=1 |pages=8–25|doi= 10.1152/jn.00648.2004
|pmid=15985692}}
the state-space approach to brain-computer interface,{{cite journal|last1=Brockwell|first1=Anthony E.|last2= Rojas|first2=A.L.|last3=Kass|first3=Robert E.|date=2004-04-01|title=Recursive Bayesian Decoding of Motor Cortical Signals by Particle Filtering|journal=Journal of Neurophysiology|volume=91 |issue=4 |pages=1899–1907|doi=10.1152/jn.00438.2003
|pmid=15010499|s2cid=15092944 }} and the brain's apparent ability to solve the credit assignment problem during brain-controlled robotic movement.{{cite journal|last1=Jarosiewicz|first1=Beata|last2= Chase|first2=Steven M.|last3=Farser|first3=George W.|last4=Velliste|first4=Meel|last5=Kass|first5=Robert E.|last6=Schwartz|first6=Andrew B.|date=2008-12-01|title=Functional network reorganization during learning in a brain-computer interface paradigm|journal=PNAS|volume=105 |issue=49 |pages=19486–19491|doi=10.1073/pnas.0808113105
|pmid=19047633|pmc=2614787|bibcode=2008PNAS..10519486J|doi-access=free }} Kass's book Analysis of Neural Data{{Cite book|url=https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9781461496014|title=Analysis of Neural Data|last1=Kass|first1=Robert E.|last2=Brown|first2=Emery N.|last3=Eden|first3=Uri|isbn=978-1-4614-9602-1|doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-9602-1|publisher=Wiley|series=Springer Series in Statistics|year=2014}} (with Emery Brown and Uri Eden) was published in 2014.
Kass has also written on statistics education and the use of statistics, including the articles, "What is Statistics?",{{cite journal|last1=Kass|first1=Robert E.|last2= Brown|first2=Emery N.|date=2008-09-01|title=What Is Statistics?|journal=The American Statistician|volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=105–110|doi=10.1198/tast.2009.0019|s2cid=120522019 }} "Statistical Inference: The Big Picture,"{{cite journal|last=Kass|first=Robert E.|date=2011-06-11|title=Statistical Inference: The Big Picture|journal=Statistical Science|volume=26|issue=1 |pages=1–9|doi=10.1214/10-STS337|pmid=21841892|pmc=3153074}} and "Ten Simple Rules for Effective Statistical Practice".{{cite journal|last1=Kass|first1=Robert E.|last2=Caffo|first2=Brian S.|last3=Davidian|first3=Marie|last4=Meng|first4=Xiao-Li|last5=Reid|first5=Nancy|date=2016-06-06|title=Ten Simple Rules for Effective Statistical Practice|journal=PLOS Comput Biol|volume=12|issue=6|pages=e1004961|doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004961|pmid=27281180|pmc=4900655|bibcode=2016PLSCB..12E4961K |doi-access=free }}
Professional and administrative activities
Kass has served Chair of the Section for Bayesian Statistical Science of the American Statistical Association, Chair of the Statistics Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, founding Editor-in-Chief of Bayesian Analysis (journal), and Executive Editor (editor-in-chief) of the international review journal Statistical Science. At Carnegie Mellon University he was Department Head of Statistics from 1995 to 2004 and Interim Co-director of the joint CMU–University of Pittsburgh Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition 2015–2018.{{Cite web |last=University |first=Carnegie Mellon |title=Robert Kass - Statistics & Data Science - Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences - Carnegie Mellon University |url=http://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/statistics-datascience/people/faculty/robert-kass.html |access-date=2023-05-30 |website=www.cmu.edu |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Kass Elected to National Academy of Sciences – CNBC |url=https://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/2023/05/09/kass-elected-to-national-academy-of-sciences/ |access-date=2023-05-30 |language=en-US}}
Honors
Kass is an elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences.{{cite web |last=Simmons |first=Abby |date=2023-05-09 |title=Kass Elected to National Academy of Sciences - News - Carnegie Mellon University |url=https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2023/may/kass-elected-to-national-academy-of-sciences |access-date=2023-05-30 |website=www.cmu.edu }} For his work on statistical modeling of neural synchrony,{{cite journal|last1=Kass|first1=Robert E.|last2= Kelly|first2=Ryan C.|last3=Loh|first3=Wei-Liem|date=2011-07-13|title=Assessment of synchrony in multiple neural spike trains using loglinear point process models|journal=The Annals of Applied Statistics|volume=5 |issue=2B |pages=1262–1292|doi=10.1214/10-AOAS429|pmid=21837263|pmc=3152213|bibcode=2011arXiv1107.5872K|arxiv=1107.5872}} in 2013 he received the Outstanding Statistical Application Award from the American Statistical Association, and in 2017 he received the R.A. Fisher Award and Lectureship, now known as the COPSS Distinguished Achievement Award and Lectureship, from the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies.
References
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Category:Carnegie Mellon University faculty
Category:American statisticians
Category:Antioch College alumni
Category:University of Chicago alumni