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THE CAMBRIDGE STATISTICS DISCUSSION GROUP Tuesday 14th November 2017 7:15 for 7:45 The Statistical Laboratory, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge, CB3 0WB The frequency of ‘America’ in America Adam Kashlak Statistical Laboratory Abstract: From nascent European colonies to a global superpower, the United States of America has risen in many aspects throughout its history. One such aspect is rhetoric. Specifically, each successive American president speaks more and more frequently of America. In this talk, we will examine historical speeches from present day Barack Obama to the founding father George Washington who in 1790 first addressed congress in what has now come to be known as the State of the Union (SOTU) address. Across the 227 years worth of SOTU speeches and written reports as well as inaugural addresses, we will track the usage of one specific word, "America," and attempt to predict the rhetoric of the profoundly unpredictable President Donald Trump. This talk is based on the winning article of the Royal Statistical Society's 2016 Young Statisticians Writing Competition. Speaker: Adam B Kashlak is an assistant professor of statistics at the University of Alberta and a recent PhD graduate from the Cambridge Centre for Analysis. Working under professors Richard Nickl and John A D Aston from the Cambridge Statistical Laboratory, his thesis was focused on the estimation and inference of covariance structures for high and infinite dimensional data making use of tools called concentration inequalities. Prior to this, Adam was an applied statistics researcher for the US Department of Defense. Directions: The main entrance is reached from Clarkson Road by going along the footpath to the right of the Newton Institute, and turning left through the gatehouse towards the main building (Pavilion A), which has a glass front and a curved grassed roof. The main entrance is in the middle of the glass front. Coffee before the talk will be in the common room in Pavilion D, and the talk will be in Meeting Room 4 in Pavilion A. Free parking is available after 5pm on Clarkson and Wilberforce Roads. Provisional Next Meetings (2018): 5th February 2018 – Anthony Edwards (Gonville & Caius) on ‘Cambridge Statistics from Venn to Fisher and Beyond’. 1st March – Nicole Janz (Sociology). 28th March – Sylvia Richardson (Biostatistics). 26th April – Robert Kozarski (AstraZeneca) on ‘Pre-clinical and clinical drug development from a Pharmaceutical Statistician perspective’. October – Sarah Walters (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine). 4th February 2019 – Sian Evans (Public Health England). Supper: Some members eat regularly in the University Centre before each meeting at 5-45pm. Feel free to join them. Subscriptions: of 1 pound are now due for attending the 2017-2018 session. Secretary: Peter Watson, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF; telephone 01223 355294 Extension 801; E-mail [log in to unmask] Slides and .mp3 files of old talks: http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/peter.watson/csdg.html You may leave the list at any time by sending the command SIGNOFF allstat to [log in to unmask], leaving the subject line blank.