On February 26, Prof. C.F.Jeff Wu, Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, was invited to the SUSTech Lecture to give a lecture on the topic "Statisticians at Work: Inspiration, Aspiration, Ambition". Chaired by Vice President TANG Tao.

Prof. C.F.Jeff Wu gives a lecture

Prof. Wu was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering,receving several awards, including the COPSS Presidents' Award.
As the first Asian-American member of the National Academy of Engineering, Prof. Wu offers insight onStatisticians at Work. He said, A key measure of the maturity and quality of a scientific community is how it judges and values accomplishments and (or versus) scholarship.To address this question, he described the motivation or drive for accomplishments and/or scholarship at three levels: inspiration, aspiration, ambition. They represent different (but not necessarily exclusive) mindsets or modi operandi.
Prof. Wu used several prominent examples in statistics history to explain or illustrate the acts of inspiration, aspiration, and ambition. They include: Pearson’s arguments with Fisher and with Yule, some breakthrough work of Fisher, Neyman, Tukey, Box, Efron, and the more humbling experience ofhis work in experimental design.

During the Q&A Prof. Wu answered questions raised by SUSTech students and faculty members.