Laurent Saloff-Coste, professor of mathematics, was named a fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) during an Aug. 1 induction ceremony at the Joint Statistical Meetings/IMS Annual Meeting in Miami.

Saloff-Coste, who joined the Cornell faculty in 1998, received the award for exceptional contributions at the interface of probability and analysis, especially concerning the mixing of Markov chains, random walks on groups and the use of probabilistic methods for the study of heat kernel bounds.

With research interests in analysis, potential theory and stochastic processes, Saloff-Coste also studies probability theory and geometric group theory. His expertise includes different aspects of heat diffusion on manifolds from the point of view of both partial differential equations and stochastic processes.

Created in 1935, the IMS is an organization that fosters the development and dissemination of the theory and applications of statistics and probability.

This year's 18 fellows were assessed by a committee of peers and chosen from 41 nominations. The IMS has 4,300 active members around the world.