Rice University Scholar Honored by the International Society of Bayesian Analysis

Marina Vannucci, the Noah Harding Professor of Statistics at Rice University in Houston, Texas, has been awarded the 2020 Zellner Medal from the International Society of Bayesian Analysis.

The Zellner Medal is named for Arnold Zellner, an American economist and statistician who performed pioneering research in Bayesian analysis and econometric modeling. The award recognizes members of the society who have “rendered exceptional service to ISBA over an extended period of time, with a long-lasting impact.”

Professor Vannucci joined the faculty at Rice University in 2007. She served as chair of the department of statistics from 2014 to 2019. Dr. Vannucci also holds an adjunct appointment in biostatistics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Vannucci is co-editor of the Journal of the American Statistical Association — Theory and Methods and has served as editor-in-chief of the journal Bayesian Analysis.

Dr. Vannucci taught at Texas A&M University for nine years before joining the faculty at Rice. Her research interests include Bayesian statistics, variable selection, graphical models, statistical computing and wavelets, with applications in genomics, neuroimaging, and engineering.

Professor Vannucci earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Florence in Italy.