The Bernard Harris Award is a new endeavor by the ASA’s Section on Risk Analysis to provide financial support for speakers in invited technical sessions organized by the Section on Risk Analysis at the annual Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) and/or conferences or symposia organized by the section.

Invited sessions at JSM and other meetings foster free exchange of scientific information. A diversity of speakers broadens the knowledge and perspective of these sessions. The Bernard Harris Award will provide a resource for the Risk Analysis Section to enhance diversity.

Speakers receiving the award will generally fall into one or more of the following categories:

• Someone who would bring valuable knowledge and perspective to the session but who typically is not a statistician and would not ordinarily attend JSM
• A recent graduate of an accredited university program whose thesis or published work shows unusual promise and potential value to the body of statistical knowledge
• A statistician with a wide body of statistical research whose experience and insight would challenge and inspire colleagues

The annual award will be $1,800 and may be used only for a Risk Analysis Section invited speaker’s travel and accommodation costs, including conference registration, if necessary.

Award selection: The recipient will be selected by a process determined by the ASA Section on Risk Analysis. As with all ASA awards, the selection process will not involve the donor.

About Bernard Harris

Bernard (Bernie) Harris (June 20, 1926 – January 28, 2011) led a distinguished research, consulting, and teaching career in statistics and mathematics. Graduating from Townsend Harris High School in New York City, Harris entered City College of New York and graduated with a degree in business administration in 1946. He was drafted into the Army, assigned to the Counter Intelligence Corps, and sent to Germany in the aftermath of World War II. Upon discharge, he worked for the US Census Bureau before pursuing an academic focus on theoretical mathematics and statistics. He undertook coursework at The George Washington University to earn a master’s degree and was eventually employed by the National Security Agency as a mathematician. Harris earned a scholarship to Stanford University and completed his PhD in one year under the guidance of Charles Stein.

Moving from government service to the academic world, Harris joined the mathematics department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and served as the director of the statistics division. Soon, he was offered a joint position at the Mathematics Research Center (MRC) and a professorship in the statistics department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research over the years involved work in random mappings, combinatorics, risk analysis, reliability, probability, statistical inferences, and terrorism concerns. He published many articles and reviews in professional journals. His first book, Theory of Probability, was published in 1966. He was the editor of Spectral Analysis of Time Series (1967) and Graph Theory and Its Applications (1970).

Harris became a fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and American Statistical Association, a member of the Honorary Society of the International Statistical Institute (ISI), and a recipient of the Army Wilks Award (1982) and Pioneers of Science Award (1982). He served on various committees for the ASA, ISI, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Classification Society of North America.

With colleagues Lee Abramson, Harry Martz, Lisa Weissfeld, and others, Harris worked to establish the Risk Analysis Section in the early 1990s and served as the first chair of the section. Interests within the section have evolved over the years to encompass a variety of fields, often touching on topics defining other ASA sections. The fund established in Harris’s name seeks to support the evolution of the Risk Analysis Section.