Seminar Notice
Statistical Laboratory
Iowa State University

DATE AND TIME: Monday, April 18, 2005, 4:10 p.m.

PLACE: 319 Snedecor

SPEAKER: David Ruppert, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

TITLE:  Semiparametric Modeling, Penalized Splines, and Mixed Models


ABSTRACT


A semiparametric model combines parametric and nonparametric components, where the latter are functions whose shapes are not confined to a low-dimensional family.  Penalized splines model these nonparametric components using a fixed, pre-determined basis.  Overfitting is prevented by a roughness penalty, and penalized spline include classical smoothing splines as a special case.  A penalized spline estimator can be viewed as a BLUP in a mixed model or as an empirical Bayes estimator.  The mixed model viewpoint is especially convenient for applications because of its conceptual simplicity and because it allows use of readily available software.  Additive models, single-index models, and nonlinear regression models can be fit relatively simply.  Penalized spline methods are the most effective methods known for nonparametric regression with covariate measurement errors.  Penalized splines are very effective for nonparametric random effects models, e.g., longitudinal data where each subject has his/her own curve.

COFFEE: 3:45 p.m., 104 Snedecor Hall

Seminar schedules and abstracts are available via WWW:  http://www.stat.iastate.edu/


Jeanette La Grange
Department of Statistics
102 Snedecor
Iowa State University
Ames, IA  50010-1210
515 294-3440 (office)
515 294-4040 (fax)
http://www.stat.iastate.edu/directory/staff/jeanette.html