James Cochran

Robert L. Mason is an institute analyst at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, where he has worked since 1975. He also is an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he has taught statistics courses for more than 35 years. He earned a BS degree in mathematics from St. Mary’s University (TX) in 1968 and a PhD degree in statistics from Southern Methodist University in 1971.

Mason was a member of the American Statistical Association Board of Directors in 1987–1989, ASA vice president from 1992–1994, and president of the ASA in 2003. He is a Fellow of both the American Statistical Association and American Society for Quality and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute. He has been awarded the Founder’s Award and Don Owen Award from the American Statistical Association and the Shewhart Medal and W.J. Youden Award (twice) from the American Society for Quality. He also was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award from St. Mary’s University in 2001.

Mason has published more than 120 research papers and co-authored five textbooks, including Statistical Design and Analysis of Experiments with Applications to Engineering and Science (Wiley, 1989; 2nd ed. 2003). He also has been a trustee of the board of directors of the USAA Investment Management Company since 1997 and board chair since 2012.

In the third installment of the series of interviews with ASA presidents and executive directors, we feature a discussion with 2003 ASA President Robert L. Mason.

Q: Bob, thank you for taking time to talk with me. Many statisticians start their studies in some other discipline and are then drawn to our discipline. Did you intend to become a statistician when you first entered college, or did you start out studying some other discipline or disciplines? If you did not intend to become a statistician when you began college, what discipline or disciplines did you originally study, and how did that lead you to statistics? Who most influenced you in making that decision?

A: When I entered college, I wanted to obtain a BS degree in either mathematics or chemistry, so I chose to major in mathematics and minor in chemistry. Due to limited personal finances, I attended a small teaching university (St. Mary’s University) that was located in my hometown of San Antonio. Fortunately for me, it had some outstanding teachers in mathematics.

In my senior year, I needed an extra math course for graduation, so I enrolled in a one-semester course that concentrated on the basic theory of mathematical statistics. The teacher was a mathematician and not very well versed in statistics. Needless to say, he was not very inspiring and I had limited interest in the subject and never even thought of pursuing a career in it.

However, I excelled in pure mathematics, and, urged on by my math professors, I applied for a PhD in mathematics at several universities. Due to good fortune, the University of Michigan offered me a very generous teaching fellowship in the spring of my senior year in 1968. This was a troubling time in the United States for male students of my age, as we faced a mandatory draft into the military if we left school and did not have a deferment. Because I needed money to pay for my college tuition, I had enrolled in the ROTC program at St. Mary’s and, consequently, was going to be commissioned a second lieutenant in the field artillery in May.

In early April of 1968, I was sitting at home one spring day talking to my mom about the pending orders I would receive from the U.S. Army upon my commission in May and where I might be assigned for duty. I was discussing with her whether to postpone my military commitment and take a three-year deferment to go to graduate school in mathematics in Michigan. About that time, a phone call came in and my mom answered it. As I sat and waited, she talked to the person on the line for an extended time. She then handed me the phone and told me she had found the place for me to go.

When I picked up the phone, I was told I was talking to Paul Minton, who was the chair of the department of statistics at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He told me his department had just been awarded some new government fellowships and that he was looking for good math students in Texas and I had been recommended to him by one of my math professors. He then offered me a National Defense Title IV Fellowship to SMU in statistics. It included all my tuition and fees (including books) and a small monthly stipend ($100) to pay for my room and meals.

Although I knew nothing about statistics, except for the one course I described above, I jumped at the opportunity to go to graduate school in Texas, where I would be nearer to home (and warmer than Michigan) and I would not have to teach or work for my fellowship. As a result, I enrolled in SMU in the fall, where I subsequently fell in love with the field of statistics, graduated from SMU with a PhD degree in mathematical statistics in 1971, and began a whole new career.

In retrospect, my mom and Paul Minton were the people who most influenced my decision.

Q: In what particular areas of application did you work most frequently prior to becoming the ASA president?

A: Initially, I worked for a few years teaching statistics at both Florida State University (in a visiting position) and at the Medical University of South Carolina (in a biostatistics program). In 1975, I was hired by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), located in San Antonio, as a senior research statistician.

SwRI is one of the oldest and largest independent, nonprofit, applied research and development organizations in the United States. My work involved designing experiments and analyzing data collected in those experiments run in support of projects in such diverse application fields as automotive engineering, chemistry, mechanical engineering, space sciences, nondestructive evaluation, automation, engine design, electronics, bioengineering, and many others. My first project involved evaluating the effectiveness of air bags in automobiles.

The areas of application I worked in most frequently included regression analysis, experimental design, reliability, quality control, sampling techniques, statistical modeling, analysis procedures, data interpretation, and data representation. My major focus initially was in the area of regression analysis, and this led to my co-authoring an applied textbook on that subject in 1980. Later, my major work involved experimental design and analysis, and this led to a co-authored book in this area that first appeared in 1989. I then concentrated on the field of multivariate control charts and their applications, and this led to a third co-authored book, published in 2002.

Q: In what ASA volunteer roles had you served prior to being elected president?

A: In 1982, I led the effort to help establish the ASA San Antonio Chapter. This led to my election as its first president and simultaneously as its first council representative at the national level. Two years later, I was elected as the chair-elect of the newly established Council of Chapters, and, in 1987, I was elected as the council representative for a three-year term (1987–1989) on the ASA Board of Directors. The board position led to appointments to many of the board committees, including the Management Review Committee. I also was appointed the co-chair of the Sesquicentennial Committee and spent three years working on the celebration for the 150th anniversary of the founding of the ASA.

After serving a term on the ASA Board, and prior to 1992, I was appointed as the Winter Conference Committee Chair and helped organize a Winter Conference meeting in San Antonio. I then was appointed as the chair of the Advisory Committee on Continuing Education and also was elected the secretary-treasurer of the Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences.

In 1992, I was elected to a three-year term as a vice president on the ASA Board of Directors, which also included serving on the Budget Committee, Planning Committee, and Committee on Committees. After I ended my term as vice president, I was elected chair of the Quality and Productivity Section. Subsequently, I also was appointed chair of the Committee on Meetings for five years and a member of the Joint Meetings Advisory Committee. In 2002, I was elected as president-elect of the ASA.

Q: What accomplishment as president of the ASA did you find most gratifying?

A: There were many accomplishments during my ASA presidency, but the most gratifying was the work in finally obtaining signed agreements with all of the founding societies participating in the Joint Statistical Meetings to form a true joint statistical meeting, which consequently would then be managed and administered by one society: the ASA.

Q: What are your feelings about the future of the ASA? What makes you particularly optimistic about the ASA’s future?

A: I think the ASA has a great future. I base my optimism on the strong leadership of the ASA, including its executive director; its president; and the many volunteer leaders who work on the board and various councils, committees, sections, and chapters. The ASA has adeptly adjusted to the ever-changing needs of the field of statistics, and the organization is very progressive and far sighted in its work. Most importantly, its leadership has a clear vision of achieving its goal of promoting the practice and profession of statistics.

Coming Up

Please return to this column next month, when we will feature an interview with 1985 ASA President John Neter.