Dancing with the statistical stars

When the wedding celebrations were done on Sunday, I headed south from Charlottesville to visit my old graduate school stomping grounds in Chapel Hill, and to catch up with former friends and colleagues. I spent Monday and Tuesday night visiting with my co-author, Marie Davidian, and her husband, Butch (Anastasios) Tsiatis.



Marie and Butch are both professors in the Statistics Department at N.C. State in Raleigh. When I visited they had just returned from the East Coast Classic ballroom dancing contest in Savannah, in which they snagged the top amateur award in their category.



Now, I was pretty happy with the charcoal-gray Giorgio Canali suit that I wore at Katie's wedding (purchased at Nordstrom's just for the occasion). But, as these pictures clearly indicate, I can never hope to match the sartorial splendor of Butch and Marie.


The gentleman with Marie in the middle picture is her dance instructor, Robert.

Marie and Butch have long been stars in the statistical firmament. Obviously, they are well on their way to total domination in the cutthroat world of ballroom dancing as well.

It was a great visit.