In August 2017, The American Statistical Association awarded the fifth Causality in Statistics Education Prize to Ilya Shpitser, John C. Malone Assistant Professor of the Department of Computer Science.
Established in 2013 to “encourage the teaching of basic causal inference methods in introductory statistics courses,” the annual award recognizes the work of an individual or team that enhances the teaching and learning of causal inference in introductory statistics coursework.
Shpitser has developed master’s-level course materials for students with a machine learning and data science background. It combines techniques of graphical and counterfactual models and provides both an accessible coverage of the field and conceptual, computational, and project-oriented exercises for students.
“Even with the recent development of causal inference tools, which are currently sweeping new insights and application areas, most statistics educators and textbooks do not provide any information on these tools,” said Judea Pearl, co-chair of the prize-selection committee, in an article announcing the recipient. The award provides a $5,000 cash prize each year. In 2018, the $5,000 award was funded by Microsoft Research and Google.