Biography

Dr. Pai received his Bachelor of Commerce at Feng Chia University, Taiwan, ROC, in 1984.  After two years of military service in Taiwan, Dr. Pai studied at the University of Connecticut, USA, where he received his Master of Science in Actuarial Sciences in 1990 and his Ph.D. in Statistics in 1994. Dr. Pai achieved the Associate of the Society of Actuaries in 1990 and the Professional Statistician of the Statistical Society of Canada in 2005. Before joining the Warren Centre in 1996, Dr. Pai was employed at the University of Basel, Switzerland, where he spent two years researching in the areas of Econometrics and Statistics. At the University of Manitoba, Dr. Pai was promoted to Associate Professor in 2001, Full Professor in 2008, and granted tenure in 2000.

Dr. Pai has received individual and joint research grants from Canada, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Taiwan. Dr. Pai has many refereed publications in top journals such as the Journal of Econometrics, Journal of Time Series Analysis, Insurance: Mathematics & Economics, North American Actuarial Journal, and Journal of Risk and Insurance. 

Dr. Pai has over 30 years of university teaching experience in the United States of America, Switzerland, Canada, China, Thailand, and Taiwan. In 2002 and 2021, Dr. Pai received the University of Manitoba “Students’ Teacher Recognition Awards” from University Teaching Services. In 2016, he received the CAS Best Paper Award for “Insurance Premium Calculation Using Credibility Analysis: An Example from Livestock Mortality Insurance”. This prize is awarded by the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) for the best paper of interest to casualty actuaries published by the American Risk and Insurance Association (ARIA). In 2011, he received the Literati Network Awards for Excellence, Emerald Journal Publishing Group’s Outstanding Paper Award for “Factors Affecting Crop Insurance Purchases in China: The Inner Mongolia Region”. In 2004, Dr. Pai was featured as one of the “PopularProfs” in MACLEAN’s Guide to Canadian Universities.


Additionally, Dr. Pai has achieved many professional designations. These include: 

  • ASA, Associate of the Society of Actuaries (1990)
  • P.STAT, Professional Statistician, Statistical Society of Canada (2005)
  • ACIA, Associate of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (2011)
  • ISI Elected Member, International Statistical Institute (2013)
     

Research Interests

  • Risk management and Derivatives Statistical Modeling
  • Term Structure of Interest Rates
  • Risk Theory
  • Bayesian Analysis
  • Markov Chain Monte Carlo Simulations

Teaching Interests

  • Life Contingencies
  • Risk Theory
  • Survival Analysis
  • Simulation
  • Credibility Theory
  • Loss models