Prof. em. Dr. Sara van de Geer

Sara van de Geer has been Full Professor at the Seminar for Statistics at ETH Zurich since September 2005.

She was born on May 7, 1958 in Leiden (The Netherlands), and studied mathematics at Leiden University. After her studies, she worked two years at Tilburg University and four years at the Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI), Amsterdam. She obtained her Ph.D. in 1987 at Leiden University. She then was lecturer at Bristol, scientific researcher at the CWI, Assistant Professor in Utrecht and in Leiden, and Associate Professor in Toulouse. From 1999 till 2005, she held a position as Full Professor at Leiden.

Her main field of research is mathematical statistics, with special interest in high-dimensional problems. Focus points are: empirical processes, curve estimation, machine learning, model selection, and non-and semiparametric statistics. She is associate editor of  Probability Theory and Related Fields, Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Journal of Machine Learning Research, Statistical Surveys and Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference. She is a member of the Reseach Council of The Swiss National Science Foundation. She is a member of the International Statistical Institute and fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. She is correspondent of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences and member of Leopoldina German National Academy of Sciences. She is President of the Bernoulli Society.