News

The National Statistics Award jury, chaired by the president of the INE, consists of the managing directors from the INE, the editor of the Spanish Journal of Statistics, and four recognised experts in the field of statistics proposed by the Conference of Spanish University Presidents (CRUE, in its Spanish acronym), the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research (SEIO, in its Spanish acronym), the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, and the Association of Senior State Statisticians.

This jury selected Daniel Peña as the winner of the first edition of the award, highlighting his role as a creator of new statistical methods that can be applied to economics, history, medicine and the environment, as well as for being one of the most recognised researchers in this field at both a national and international level. His contributions to the modelling and prediction of time series sets have been utilised, extended and widely used by many authors. In particular, the model he developed with George Box: “the Peña-Box model or Exact Dynamic Factor Model”.

Daniel Peña Sánchez de Rivera (Madrid, 1948) has a degree in Industrial Engineering (1970) and a PhD in Industrial Engineering (1976) from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM, in its Spanish acronym), a Diploma in Sociology and Statistics from the Complutense University of Madrid and an MBA in Business Administration from Harvard University. He has been a professor of Statistics at the UC3M since 1990 and was President between 2007 and 2015. He was also a professor at the UPM and a Visiting Full Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the University of Chicago. He was the director of the Spanish Statistical Journal, president of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research and president of the ECAS (European Courses in Advanced Statistics) European Statistics Society, among others. He has supervised 30 doctoral theses and has published fifteen books and more than 200 research articles about Statistics, Econometrics, Quality and their applications. Associate Editor of several international journals, he has received national and international research awards, such as the Youden Award in 2006 for the best article published in Technometrics, Engineer of the Year from the College of Industrial Engineers of Madrid and the James I Award for Economic research in 2011. He has been elected as a Fellow of prestigious international associations, such as The Institute of Mathematical Statistics and The American Statistical Association.

The National Statistics Award is convened annually for Spanish experts whose scientific work and input constitutes an eminent contribution to the advancement of Statistics, recognised internationally and regardless of the country where it was carried out. The INE’s collaboration with the scientific and academic world is essential for the development of synergies that favour a high-quality statistical production, adapted to new technical developments and the challenges of a "datified" society.