A path through probability in honour of F.Thomas BRUSS
Université libre de Bruxelles
September 10-11, 2015
The conference is organized on the occasion of the retirement of F. Thomas Bruss, professor of probability and chair of Mathématiques Générales at the ULB. The organizers wish to honour his important scientific achievements as well as his dedication to the community.
Thomas studied in Saarbrücken, Cambridge, and Sheffield and holds a Dr. rer. nat. in Mathematics of U. Saarbrücken. He started his career in 1977 at U. of Namur (Dr. en sc. 1978), including visiting positions at U. of Zaire and Strathclyde U. Glasgow. He then moved to the US as an Associate professor at, successively, UC Santa Barbara, U. of Arizona, and UCLA. In 1990 he returned to Europe as Professor of the VUB Vesalius College. Three years later he was appointed chair of Mathématiques Générales and Probabilités of the ULB where he has stayed ever since, with visiting positions at U. of Namur, U. of Antwerpen and the U. Catholique de Louvain. Thomas has made several important contributions to probability theory, in particular in optimal stopping (1/e-law of best choice, odds algorithm) and in branching processes (bisexual BP's, resource-dependent BP's). He has served twice as head of the ULB Mathematics Department and is active in the national science foundations FWO and FNRS, in the Belgian Statistical Society, and the Belgian Mathematical Society. He is an elected member of the Tönissteiner Kreis (D), fellow of the von-Humboldt Foundation (D) and fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (USA). Thomas is also renowned for his outreach activity, with articles published in journals such as Spektrum der Wissenschaft, Pour la Science, Le Soir and Die Welt, as well as for his appearances on radio and television for expertise in probability. He has received several national and international distinctions and awards, and in 2011 Thomas was honoured Commandeur de l’ordre de Léopold of Belgium.
The conference is a forum for presentations in probability and mathematical statistics and brings together Thomas' main co-authors and scholars in their field.