Rose Graves
Graduate Student, Doctor of Philosophy
Assistant Director, RCE Lab
Department of Statistics
Professor James R. Thompson was the founding chair (1987) of the Department of Statistics at Rice University. Throughout his 45-year career at Rice, he had a tremendous impact on the professional and personal lives of many students.
In honor of Dr. Thompson, the department awards the annual James R. Thompson Ph.D. Student Award to recognize an outstanding continuing doctoral student for achievement in scholarship, including academic performance, research, applications and teaching. Note: this is not a thesis award.
The award is supported by the James R. Thompson Memorial Fund.
2026 James R. Thompson Memorial Fund Recipients
Jose Palacio
Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics, 2026
2025 James R. Thompson Memorial Fund Recipients
Xin Tan
Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics, 2025
Ren-Yi Wang
Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics, 2025
Past Recipients
- 2024: Jaihee Choi and Zachary Wooten
- 2023: Joseph Feldman and Zijian Zeng
- 2021: Huiming Lin and Emma Zohner
- 2020: Rongjie Liu and Michael Weylandt
- 2019: Yinsen Miao and Jonathan Stewart
Nomination Process
- Advisors submit nominations to the department by the deadline emailed to the faculty
- Nomination package including the student’s CV, letter from advisor, supporting material (papers, project reports, software)
- Winner(s) will be selected by the Committee on Special Lectures and Awards, in consultation with the department chair. In case of COIs, the chair will appoint ad hoc committee members as needed.
- Recipient(s) will get a $1,000 award and framed certificate, and the winners will also be announced at the Thompson Distinguished Lecture Series event