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“I have been surrounded by mathematics since my childhood because many of my close older relatives went to engineering programmes in which mathematics is the driving force. Furthermore, throughout my education, I had great and motivating mathematics teachers and lecturers.”

Professor Smail Mahdi

PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICAL STATISTICS
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS
FACULTY OF PURE AND APPLIED SCIENCES
CAVE HILL CAMPUS, BARBADOS
Tel: (246) 417-4367 • Email: smahdi@uwichill.edu.bb

PROFILE

Smail Mahdi joined The University of the West Indies at Mona in 1997 as a Lecturer in Mathematical Statistics. Prior to that, he worked for the University of Montreal and the University of Moncton in Canada and for the University of Constantine in Algeria. He also worked as Researcher and Consultant in Statistics for Air Canada and for the Montreal Geriatric Hospital. His first significant awards were his undergraduate scholarships and full PhD scholarship which allowed him to pursue a PhD programme in Mathematical Statistics at the University of Montreal. Other grants from The University of the West Indies, the University of Montreal, the International statistical Institute (ISI), the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS), the Summer Institute for Statistical Genetics among others, for which he is very grateful, have greatly helped to develop his research programme. Several papers are published out of this research in international journals that include Canadian Journal of Statistics, Brazilian Journal of Probability and Statistics, Biometrics, Mathematical Bioscience, Oxford IMA, Journal of the Belgium Mathematical Society, Journal of Hydrology and Water Research Resource. Professor Mahdi serves on international journal editorial boards, scientific/organizing conference committees, and reviews for several journals including, American Mathematical Society, Communication in Statistics, Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, Statistical Methods and Applications.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Professor Mahdi’s research interests are in mathematical statistics and its applications.
This includes:
• Estimation Theory and Robustness
• Multivariate Analysis and Classification
• Partial Least Square (PLS) Regression and Continuum Regression
• Preliminary Test Procedures in statistics.
• Statistical Models for the Analysis of Variability of Polygenic and Multifactorial Characters.
• Statistical Linkage Analysis in Genetics and the Coalescence Process
• Frequency Analysis in Hydrology.
• Classical Test Theory and Multiple Item Response Theory in Education.