STOR Colloquium: Yanglei Song, University of Illinios

Yanglei Song
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

 Asymptotically optimal multiple testing with streaming data

The problem of testing multiple hypotheses with streaming (sequential) data arises in diverse applications such as multi-channel signal processing, surveillance systems, multi-endpoint clinical trials, and online surveys. In this talk, we investigate the problem under two generalized error metrics. Under the first one, the probability of at least k mistakes, of any kind, is controlled. Under the second, the probabilities of at least k1 false positives and at least k2 false negatives are simultaneously controlled. For each formulation, we characterize the optimal expected sample size to a first-order asymptotic approximation as the error probabilities vanish, and propose a novel procedure that is asymptotically efficient under every signal configuration.  These results are established when the data streams for the various hypotheses are independent and each local log-likelihood ratio statistic satisfies a certain law of large numbers. Further, in the special case of iid observations, we quantify the asymptotic gains of sequential sampling over fixed-sample size schemes.

Refreshments will be served at 3:00pm in the 3^rd floor lounge of Hanes Hall