The North Carolina State University College of Sciences has named Leonard “Len” Stefanski the first R.A. Fisher Distinguished Professor in Statistics. The professorship was made possible through the financial contributions of dozens of NC State alumni and friends.

Stefanski, a prominent statistician well known for his work in measurement error modeling, joined the NC State faculty in 1986. He has also made important contributions in variable selection, biostatistics, generalized linear models, and environmental statistics. He has served as interim head of the department of statistics since 2016.

“The alumni and friends who pooled resources to create this professorship have made a profound impact on our college,” said Bill Ditto, dean of the college of sciences. “Through their philanthropy, we are able to recruit and retain prominent statisticians like Len Stefanski.”

Stefanski, along with NC State PhD student John Cook, developed SIMEX, a widely used Monte Carlo method for the analysis of data measured with error. He is also one of the authors of the seminal textbook Measurement Error in Nonlinear Models. He has authored more than 100 scientific publications and delivered or submitted more than 90 invited research presentations and papers.

Stefanski is a previous winner of the department’s Cavell Brownie Mentoring Award, which honored his outstanding mentoring of students and junior faculty, and the D.D. Mason Department Award, which recognized his many years of exemplary service to statistics at NC State. He is also an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association.

Read more about the award and Stefanski.