Empirical likelihood: theory and applications

经验似然法是一种统计方法，它使我们能够从数据中对总体特征进行有用的观察。它不需要复杂的模型，而且充分利用了当今廉价而快速的计算能力。这些是相对于那些需要特定参数模型的方法的主要优点。例如，在不知道总体高度分布的情况下，可以使用经验似然法来计算一个可能捕获总体真实平均高度的区间。经验似然理论现在涵盖了各种各样的数据。我的研究将集中在改进该方法以及将该方法推广到一些复杂的数据上。这些数据可能来自临床试验和可靠性研究。我对气候变化检测和气候建模等应用问题也很感兴趣。

The empirical likelihood method is a statistical method which enables us to make useful observations about population characteristics from data. It does not require elaborate models to do so and it takes full advantage of the inexpensive and fast computing power available today. These are the main advantages over those methods that require a specific parametric model. For example, one may use the empirical likelihood method to compute an interval which is likely to capture the true average height of a population without knowing the height distribution of the population. The empirical likelihood theory now covers a wide variety of data. My research will focus on improving the method as well as the extension of this method to some complicated data. Such data may arise from clinical trials and reliability studies. I am also interested in applied problems such as climate change detection and climate modelling.