Meet Statistics summer scholar Eric Lim

Every year, the Department of Statistics offers summer scholarships to a number of students so they can work with staff on real-world projects. Eric, right, is working on a project called Accessible graphics for data on maps with Professor Chris Wild. Eric explains:

“I am working on an easy-to-use data-analysis system called iNZight  that has been developed by Professor Chris Wild and his students at the University of Auckland. The primary purpose of iNZight is to allow students to experience exploring many different types of statistics, and it has been successfully deployed in many situations to produce significant results.

“My main task is to implement a simple geographical information system (GIS) in iNZight so that students can draw maps, visualise geographical information, learn and interpret patterns they reveal.

“Knowing where things happen is important, especially in looking for or displaying spatial relationships in areas such as crime, health, education, population, environmental resource management, market analysis, highway maintenance, accident monitoring, and emergency planning and routing.

“Geographical data are also very interesting and fun to look at, and I would like to present iNZight users with visually appealing and informative maps. A picture is worth a thousand words!

“I am from South Korea. I studied applied mathematics and statistics for my undergraduate degree, and recently finished my honours degree in statistics at the University of Auckland. I am hoping to study a masters in 2015.

“I am fascinated by patterns hidden inside data that can only be seen by using appropriate statistical methods. Learning different statistical techniques to effectively bring out the patterns is naturally my biggest interest and passion.

“I particularly love statistics because of its wide range of use in many areas such as finance, ecology, computing and many more.”