Elżbieta Pleszczyńska

] ) In 1993 the President of the Republic of Poland awarded Elżbieta Pleszczyńska with the Full Professor title in the area of mathematics. in 2000 she was an invited consultant of the Cambridge University.

In the Institute of Computer Science PAS, she had been leader of the Statistical Data Analysis division for years. According to the Polish law, professors in PAS have to retire in the age of 70 [(in Polish) http://www.pan.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=246&limit=1&limitstart=7, art. 84, 1] . The retirement in 2003, although a bit confusing, didn't stop her scientific and social activity. [(in English) http://www.ipipan.eu/recentpub/2004.html] [(in English) http://www.ipipan.eu/recentpub/2005.html] [(in English) http://www.ipipan.eu/recentpub/2007.html] [(in English) http://www.ipipan.eu/publishing/printer/pub2008pr.html]

Scientific opinions

Prof. Pleszczyńska is known for her criticism of the classic statistical approach. Classic parametric methods, like Pearson correlation coefficient, or least squares method produce comparable results only for comparable distribution types (in practice multivariate normal distribution is being assumed). Parametric statistical tests are derived from distribution assumptions. Classic methods fail if the input data contain strong outliers, and interpretation of their results should be different for different distribution types. In practice, the underlying assumptions are often not checked, moreover they are always violated – there is no normal distribution in the real world, because every real variable is limited (for example people cannot be –170cm or +2km tall), and the normal distribution implies positive probability density for every real number. In most cases the real distribution is skewed or discrete, which doesn't prevent people from using normal distribution methods. The extend of this violation can be measured, but its maximum accepted level is just a convention, not mathematics. The parametric methods always work out of their conditions of use. However, their results are othen considered valid, which leads to "scientific" validation of false hypothesis. For the reasons mentioned above, Elżbieta Pleszczyńska is a strong advocate of explorative data analysis [cite book|first=Janusz B.|last=Książyk|co-authors=Olaf Matyja, Elżbieta Pleszczyńska, Marek Wiech (eds.)|title=Analiza danych medycznych i demograficznych przy użyciu programu GradeStat|place=Warszawa|year=2005|publisher=Instytut Podstaw Informatyki PAN, Centrum Zdrowia Dziecka|isbn=83-922508-0-X|pages=7 (preface by prof. Pleszczyńska)] and non-parametric statistics, like Spearman's rho, Kendall's tau, or grade data analysis.

Selected works

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Social work

Elżbieta Pleszczyńska has cofounded Foundation Supporting Physically Disabled Mathematicians and Computer Specialists in Warsaw (September 1990)(in English) http://www.idn.org.pl/fpmiinr_en/] [(in Polish) http://www.idn.org.pl/fpmiinr/doeuropy5/czesc2.htm#15_lat] . For many years she has been the Foundation chairman [(in Polish) http://www.cs.put.poznan.pl/archiwumpti/download/Biuletyny/199103.pdf] (in Polish) http://www.idn.org.pl/fpmiinr/doeuropy4/brosz2000_3.htm] (in Polish)http://www.idn.org.pl/fpmiinr/doeuropy6/art70.html] [(in Polish)http://fpmiinr.idn.org.pl/rada.html] .

The Foundation under her leadership [(in Polish) http://www.niepelnosprawni.pl/ledge/x/11055] is mainly interested in professional rehabilitation of physically disabled (not only mathematicians and specialists), based on computer techniques, like telework.

Elżbieta Pleszczyńska has been continuously focusing attention of the public opinion on rights of disable people, in her periodical reports. [(in Polish) http://www.idn.org.pl/fpmiinr/publikacje.html]

Private life

She has a son – journalist – and two grandchildren. She lives in Warsaw Wola district.

References

External links

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