Matthew Dixon, assistant professor of finance and statistics, in collaboration with Diego Klabjan of Northwestern University, has been invited to be a mentor during Google Summer of Code 2017. Dixon is one of approximately 10 professors from around the world invited to participate as a statistical computing in R mentor.

The project will identify and provide more advanced sampling techniques necessary for the application of machine learning to financial econometrics applications and many other related applications, such as traffic and crime prediction. As part of this project, a full-time graduate student who has been successfully admitted through the Google program will be mentored in developing new statistical extensions for the R programming language.

“There is a gap between the statistics and the AI communities and it’s exciting to be bridging that gap through new ways of working with the data science community, sponsored by Google,” Dixon said. “The many summer project experiences on offer at GSoC will help graduate students build their career profile, especially in the area of analytics, data science, and quantitative finance.”

Qualified graduate student applicants receive a $5,500 (approximate) stipend for the summer. The application deadline is Monday, April 3, but students are encouraged to apply to a number of projects as soon as possible.