mathematics

Stephen Fienberg

Stephen Fienberg is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Stephen Fienberg rather than just read about it. In short: Stephen Elliott Fienberg (27 November 1942 – 14 December 2016) was a professor emeritus (formerly the Maurice Falk University Professor of Statistics and Social Science) in the Department of Statistics, the Machine Learning Department, Heinz College, and Cylab at Carnegie Mellon University. Fienberg was the founding co-editor of the Annual Review of Statistics and Its Application and of the Journal of Privacy and Co…

Key takeaways

Stephen Fienberg belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Stephen Fienberg to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Stephen Fienberg from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Stephen Elliott Fienberg (27 November 1942 – 14 December 2016) was a professor emeritus (formerly the Maurice Falk University Professor of Statistics and Social Science) in the Department of Statistics, the Machine Learning Department, Heinz College, and Cylab at Carnegie Mellon University. Fienberg was the founding co-editor of the Annual Review of Statistics and Its Application and of the Journal of Privacy and Confidentiality.

Early life and education Born in Toronto, Ontario, Fienberg earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Toronto in 1964, a Master of Arts degree in statistics in 1965, and a Ph.D. in statistics in 1968 from Harvard University for research supervised by Frederick Mosteller.

Career and research Fienberg was on the Carnegie Mellon University faculty from 1980 and served as Dean of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. He became a U.S. citizen in 1998. Fienberg was one of the foremost social statisticians in the world, and was well known for his work in log-linear modeling for categorical data, the statistical analysis of network data, and methodology for disclosure limitation. He was also an expert on forensic science, the only statistician to serve on the National Commission on Forensic Science. He authored more than 400 publications, including six books, advised more than 30 Ph.D. students, and could claim more than 105 descendants in his mathematical genealogy. His publications included books on discrete multivariate analysis categorical data analysis, US census adjustment, and forensic science. He was a founder and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Privacy and Confidentiality. and of the Annual Review of Statistics and Its Application.

Awards and honors Fienberg was an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of the American Statistical Association and a fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. He was a recipient of the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) Presidents' Award in 1982. In 2002, Fienberg received the Samuel S. Wilks Award from the American Statistical Association for his distinguished career in statistics. He received the inaugural Statistical Society of Canada's Lise Manchester Award in 2008 in recognition of his application of statistics to problems of public interest. In 2015, he received the Jerome Sacks Award for Cross-Disciplinary Research from the National Institute of Statistical Sciences, and the R. A. Fisher Lectureship from COPSS in 2015. He was awarded the Zellner Medal by the International Society for Bayesian Analysis (ISBA) in 2016. In 2009 Fienberg was recipient of the American Statistical Association's Founders Award.

Selected publications Bishop, Y. M. M., Fienberg, S. E. and Holland, P. W. (1975). Discrete Multivariate Analysis: Theory and Practice. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, MA. Paperback edition (1977). A Citation Classic. Reprinted, by Springer-Verlag, New York (2007). Fienberg, S. E. and Hinkley, D. V., eds. (1980). R. A. Fisher: An Appreciation. Springer-Verlag, NY. 1st reprint 1989; 2nd reprint by Springer-Verlag, NY (2012). Fienberg, S. E. (1980). The Analysis of Cross-classified Categorical Data. 2nd Edition. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, MA. A Citation Classic. Reprinted, by Springer-Verlag, New York (2007). DeGroot, M. H., Fienberg, S. E., and Kadane, J. B., eds. (1986). Statistics and the Law. Wiley, New York. Wiley Classics Paperback edition (1994). Goldenberg, A., Zheng, A. X., Fienberg, S. E. and Airoldi, E. M. (2010) A Survey of Statistical Network Models. Now Publishers Inc.

Personal life Stephen Fienberg was married to Joyce Fienberg and had two sons, Anthony and Howard, and six grandchildren. He died on 14 December 2016. Joyce Fienberg died on 27 October 2018. She was one of eleven worshippers murdered during the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting at the Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Stephen Fienberg

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Stephen Fienberg claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Stephen Fienberg before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Stephen Fienberg ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Stephen Fienberg

In research: Stephen Fienberg appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Stephen Fienberg in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Stephen Fienberg is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1942 births, 2016 deaths, 20th-century American statisticians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Stephen Fienberg outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Stephen Fienberg in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Stephen Fienberg means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Stephen Fienberg out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stephen Fienberg in simple terms?

Why does Stephen Fienberg matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Stephen Fienberg?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Stephen Fienberg.