John D. Kalbfleisch and Ross L. Prentice
The Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) recently named Roderick J. A. Little as the R.A. Fisher Lecturer for the 2012 Joint Statistical Meetings in San Diego, California. The title of the talk, which will be given on August 1 at 4 p.m., is “In Praise of Simplicity, Not Mathematistry! Ten Simple, Powerful Ideas for the Statistical Scientist.”
Little is associate director for research and methodology and chief scientist at the U.S. Census Bureau and Richard D. Remington Collegiate Professor in the department of biostatistics at the University of Michigan, where he also holds appointments in the department of statistics and Institute for Social Research. He has made many outstanding and fundamental contributions to statistical theory and applications. The scope, depth, and influence of his work are all truly impressive. Further, his theoretical work is closely tied to problems arising in science and public policy and, very much in the Fisherian tradition, many of his methodological contributions are intrinsically tied to his applied work.
Little earned his BA in mathematics from Cambridge University and MS and PhD degrees in statistics from Imperial College, London. Prior to his appointment at the University of Michigan, he held faculty appointments at the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Chicago and nonacademic positions as ASA/Census/NSF Research Fellow at the Census Bureau, expert consultant at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and scientific associate at the World Fertility Survey. He was coordinating and applications editor for the Journal of the American Statistical Association from 1992–1994. Interested in federal statistical issues, he has served as a member of the Committee on National Statistics, the Federal Advisory Committee of the National Children’s Study, and a number of other National Research Council committees, including two committees devoted to census issues. He recently chaired a National Academies committee on the treatment of missing data in clinical trials.
Little has been a leading researcher in the modeling, evaluation, and analysis of missing data, sample survey, and causal inference. In the 1980s, he made extensive contributions to likelihood-based analyses of incomplete data and related single and multiple imputation methods. Other related work is on the analysis of panel surveys with attrition, comparisons of imputation and weighting, design for nonresponse, and models for nonignorable response. He is an authority in this area, and his collective work is widely cited. His 1987 book, Statistical Analysis with Missing Data, is now a classic reference for statisticians and practitioners alike. The second edition, published in 2002, is an important and wide-reaching revision buy ativan online no rx that summarizes more recent work in the area, including much due to Little, his students, and his co-authors.
Survey research is another area of Little’s substantial and ongoing contribution, and his research in the design and analysis of sample surveys is widely known and influential. His work in this area has been balanced between model-based and design-based methods, and his pioneering work in model-based methods is being followed by many researchers. He is a leader in sample survey methodology, as recognized in his appointment as senior research scientist in the University of Michigan’s Institute of Social Research and his current role at the U.S. Census Bureau.
Little’s early collaborative research focused on survey work in environmental statistics and demography. Of specific note is his extensive work with the World Fertility Survey and on the Income Supplement of the Current Population Survey. At Michigan, he has played important roles in various collaborative projects and currently serves as director of the biostatistics cores for three major research centers.
Little served as applications and coordinating editor of the Journal of the American Statistical Association and associate editor for a number of other journals. He served on and chaired high-profile committees of the ASA, COPSS, and International Biometrics Society; he currently serves as vice president of the ASA. His leadership, however, goes well beyond statistical society roles. At the University of Michigan, Little served as chair of the department of biostatistics for 13 years and was instrumental in developing it into a strong internationally recognized research department. He also played an outstanding role as mentor of both faculty and students. During his time at Michigan, he has supervised 22 PhD students through to their graduation with two more in progress. During the past 12 years, he has published more than 40 methodological papers with his PhD students.
Little is married with two sons. As a classical music fan, he sings for the Choral Arts Society of Washington and has served as vice president of Artistic Affairs for the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra.
Little is a Fellow of the ASA and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute. He received the 2006 Wilks Award from the ASA in 2006, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2010, and was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2011. He has made fundamental contributions to statistical methodology and had significant impact on public policy and scientific practice. This breadth and depth of contribution are in the spirit of Fisher and make him a fitting recipient of the Fisher Lectureship Award.
Leave a Reply