Three students to head to the Summer Institute in Statistical Genetics in the United States

The Summer Institute in Statistical Genetics is taught at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, Georgia. The Institute is named in honour of Professor Bruce Weir FRS FRSNZ, an expert in statistical and forensic genetics.

Bruce Weir was born in New Zealand and educated at the University of Canterbury, before embarking on an international career that led to research and teaching at the University of Washington and North Carolina State University. He has been honoured as a Guggenheim Fellow, and as a Fellow of The Royal Society (of London), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Statistical Association, and the Royal Society Te Apārangi. He has also received the O. Max Gardner Award and the Elizabeth W. Jones Award from the Genetics Society of America.  Prof Weir will teach two modules as part of the Summer Institute, alongside other leading researchers.  Bruce and Beth Weir now live in Palmerston North.

The travel scholarships will cover flights, registration costs, and accommodation and meals on campus.

The three travel scholarships will go to:

• Thalia Heiwari, of the University of Otago, put forward by Dr Aaron Stevens
• Paige Matheson, of the University of Waikato, put forward by Dr Ang McGaughran
• Zanetta Toomata, of the University of Auckland, put forward by Assoc Prof Phil Wilcox.