Antonietta Mira is an Italian computational statistician whose research involves the application of

Markov chain Monte Carlo In statistics, Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods comprise a class of algorithms for sampling from a probability distribution. By constructing a Markov chain that has the desired distribution as its equilibrium distribution, one can obtain ...

methods to

Bayesian inference Bayesian inference is a method of statistical inference in which Bayes' theorem is used to update the probability for a hypothesis as more evidence or information becomes available. Bayesian inference is an important technique in statistics, a ...

. She is a professor of statistics in the Faculty of Economics and Institute of Computational Science at the Università della Svizzera italiana in

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

, Switzerland, and professor of statistics in the

University of Insubria The University of Insubria ( it, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria) is an Italian university located in Como and Varese, with secondary locations in Busto Arsizio and Saronno. It was founded in 1998, it has been named after the area where it i ...

in Italy.

Education and career

Mira earned a degree in economics from the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one ...

in 1991, and a doctorate in statistics from the

University of Trento The University of Trento (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Trento'') is an Italian university located in Trento and nearby Rovereto. It has been able to achieve considerable results in didactics, research, and international relations accor ...

in 1995. She then went to the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

for a second doctorate in statistics, completed in 1998. Her 1998 dissertation, ''Ordering, Slicing and Splitting Monte Carlo Markov Chains'', was supervised by Luke Tierney. She became a professor at the Università della Svizzera italiana in 2007, and added a second part-time affiliation as a professor at the

in 2015. At the Università della Svizzera italiana, she was vice-dean from 2013 to 2015. Mira has been active in the popularization of statistical thinking, directed a Swiss exhibit ''Number by numbers!'' in

Bellinzona Bellinzona ( , , Ticinese ; french: Bellinzone ; german: Bellenz ; rm, Blizuna )is a municipality, a historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebell ...

, and has been interviewed on Swiss media for her statistical expertise. She was appointed to the committee of the Swiss Statistical Society in 2020.

Books

Mira is a co-author with of the 2020 Italian-language book ''La pandemia dei dati. Ecco il vaccino'' 'The data pandemic: here's the vaccine'' She is also interested in mathematical

stage magic Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It ...

and co-authored a book in Italian on the magic tricks of

Luca Pacioli Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli (sometimes ''Paccioli'' or ''Paciolo''; 1447 – 19 June 1517) was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and an early contributor to the field now known as accounting ...

, ''Mate-Magica, I giochi di prestigio di Luca Pacioli'' (with Vanni Bossi and Francesco Arlati, 2012).

Recognition

Mira's 1998 dissertation won the Leonard J. Savage Award of the

International Society for Bayesian Analysis The International Society for Bayesian Analysis (ISBA) is a society with the goal of promoting Bayesian analysis for solving problems in the sciences and government. It was formally incorporated as a not for profit corporation by economist Arnold ...

. In 2016, Mira was elected as a Fellow of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis, and as a Fellow of the

Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere The Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere is an Italian academy founded by Napoleon in 1797. At the time of the foundation the Istituto was an institution of the Cisalpine Republic and its name was Istituto Nazionale della Repubblica Cis ...

. She was named to the 2022 class of Fellows of the

Institute of Mathematical Statistics The Institute of Mathematical Statistics is an international professional and scholarly society devoted to the development, dissemination, and application of statistics and probability. The Institute currently has about 4,000 members in all parts o ...

, for "excellence in computational aspects of Bayesian statistics, for service to professional societies, and for innovative contributions in statistics communication and outreach".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mira, Antonietta Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Italian statisticians Italian women scientists Women statisticians University of Pavia alumni University of Trento alumni University of Lugano faculty Fellows of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics