Speaker: Olav Kallenberg

Title: The basic estimation problem for symmetric random networks

Abstract: Random graphs and networks seem to remain a fashionable area in statistics. My interest in the subject was triggered by an international workshop at Columbia University last May, where to my surprise, many speakers referred to some old work of mine, long forgotten. A basic estimation problem, still open, emerged naturally from our discussions. In this talk, I will explain the underlying model with associated representation, state the basic estimation problem, and report on some partial progress.

​My reason for mentioning, in my abstract, the workshop in NY was not to boast about my achievements, rather the opposite. When I came to Columbia University, I apologized to everybody that I was not a statistician, knew nothing about graph theory, and had barely heard of random networks. The conclusion is that, if you work in an area A, your results may turn out to be useful in a seemingly unrelated area B. All mathematics is related!