The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Mississippi State University was honored to host the 2025–2026 Murray/Ollivier Address on March 25, 2026. This year’s distinguished speaker was Dr. James Stephen Marron.
Dr. James Stephen Marron is the Amos Hawley Distinguished Professor of Statistics and Operations Research and holds a joint appointment in the School of Data Science and Society. He is also a professor in the Department of Biostatistics in the Gillings School of Global Public Health and an adjunct professor in the Department of Computer Science in the College of Arts & Sciences.
Dr. Marron is widely recognized as a world research leader in the statistical disciplines of high dimensional, functional and object oriented data analysis, as well as data visualization. He has made broad major contributions ranging from the invention of innovative new statistical methods, through software development and on to statistical and mathematical theory.
In his lecture, titled “Object Oriented Data Analysis,” Dr. Marron discussed challenges arising from modern complex data and presented a general framework for addressing them. His abstract is included below. His visit brought students, faculty, and guests together for an engaging presentation by one of the field’s leading scholars.
“Abstract: The rapid change in computational capabilities has made Big Data a major modern statistical challenge. Less well understood is the rise of Complex Data as a perhaps greater challenge. Object Oriented Data Analysis (OODA) is a framework for addressing this, in particular providing a general approach to the definition, representation, visualization and analysis of Complex Data. The notion of OODA generally guides data analysis, through providing a useful terminology for interdisciplinary discussion of the many choices typically needed in modern complex data analyses. The main ideas are illustrated through several OODA contexts, including shapes, trees (in the sense of graph theory), covariance matrices and nonnegative curves as data objects.”
The Murray/Ollivier Address continues to be an important tradition in the department. The Murray/Ollivier Address, first established in 2006 through the generosity of Drs. Grace and Dean Boswell, honors the legacy of Spencer B. Murray and Arthur Ollivier, two former faculty members in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at MSU. The endowment created in their memory supports this annual lecture series, bringing leading scholars to campus to share their expertise in mathematics and statistics.
The Department of Mathematics and Statistics is proud to continue this longstanding tradition of bringing internationally recognized researchers to Mississippi State University. Dr. Marron’s visit and lecture provided a valuable opportunity for the university community to engage with current ideas in statistics and data science.
