Initially nominated in 2015 for Tier 1 of the program, Jiguo Cao was renewed as a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in data science. With this title, Cao takes on the responsibility of promoting and leading research within his area.
Cao told The Peak in an interview that this position is meant to provide leadership to new researchers in their careers by conducting research in areas such as the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and the advancement of artificial intelligence.
Data science involves extracting information through statistics to gain insights on a subject. It is an interdisciplinary field, according to Cao, so he works with collaborators from various countries to gather and analyze data in his research areas.
“I serve as the bridge between the data and the application problem we want to solve,” Cao said. He explained that researchers from different application areas provide him with data and he looks for the association between the circumstances and the complication.
Cao currently studies how healthcare systems in different countries affect the COVID-19 death rate, as well as the survival time of breast cancer. “One central role in statistics is to try to answer the questions based on the data,” he said. Cao explained that this area of research involves the analysis of mammogram images provided by researchers of subjects with and without breast cancer. Comparing the image data helps him predict cancer survival.
Experienced as a statistics and actuarial science associate professor at SFU, Cao is also an associate editor of multiple publications including the Canadian Journal of Statistics and the Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics.
He expressed that holding a position as a Canada Research Chair for data science is a prestigious title, as there are only 10 Chairs across Canada in the statistics department. 33 Chairs are currently appointed at SFU.
The Canada Research Chair Program “invests approximately $259 million per year” to support program members and make Canada a top country in research and development. Chairholders exist in a range of areas including engineering, health sciences, and humanities. Each Tier 2 Chair receives $100,000 towards their research annually for five years.
