People News for June 2021

Paul M. Ellner

The US Army Wilks Award for 2020 was presented to Paul M. Ellner recently during a virtual ceremony at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Ellner was honored for developing and applying tailored statistical methodologies in reliability growth planning, tracking, and projection used by the US Department of Defense (DoD) and associated contractors for complex weapon system development programs.

In a career spanning six decades, Ellner served as analyst, supervisor, and—most recently—senior technologist at the Combat Capabilities Development Command Data and Analysis Center. His work in recent methodological initiatives successfully addressed challenges posed by constraints in testing schedules, test resource limitations, and variabilities introduced across testing environments, helping the Army and DoD improve readiness and decrease costs. Ellner’s models and methodology are routinely requested by key analysts, engineering centers, and product offices across the Army and DoD, with hundreds of requests to date.

Ellner earned his PhD in mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has been an exceptional work mentor, promoting advances in Army statistical methodology and applications to junior co-workers, and has served on committees for doctoral candidates at the University of Maryland. He is the principal author of the Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity Reliability Growth Methodology Guide and a major contributor to DoD’s MIL-HDBK-189C, Reliability Growth Management. He has authored numerous technical reports and open literature articles that serve as a standard for statistical reliability analysis in DoD. Ellner is also the recipient of the 2001 General Powers Test and Evaluation Lifetime Achievement Award and 2008 ASA Section on Statistics in Defense and National Security Distinguished Achievement Award.

This US Army Wilks Award was established in 1981 to commemorate the career of Samuel S. Wilks and his service to the Army. It is given periodically to a deserving individual who has made substantial contributions in research and/or the application of statistical methodology affecting the practice of statistics in the Army.

Roderick Little

The 2022 Waksberg Award is going to Roderick Little, who will give the Waksberg Invited Address at the Statistics Canada 2022 Symposium and write a paper planned for publication in the December 2022 issue of Survey Methodology.

The award includes an honorarium made possible by a grant from Westat.

Survey Methodology established in 2001 an annual invited paper series in honor of Joseph Waksberg to recognize his contributions to survey statistics and methodology. Each year, a prominent survey statistician is chosen to write a paper that reviews the development and current state of an important topic in survey statistics and methodology and reflects the mixture of theory and practice that characterized Waksberg’s work.

Waksberg was a giant in survey sampling for nearly seven decades, beginning at the US Census Bureau in 1940 and moving to Westat in 1973, where he served as chair of the board from 1990 until his death in 2006.

The author of the 2022 Waksberg paper was selected by a four-person committee—Jack Gambino, Jean Opsomer (chair), Giovanna Ranalli, and Elizabeth Stuart—appointed by Survey Methodology and the American Statistical Association.

Joseph Romano

Joseph Romano, a longtime ASA member, was recently named 2021 LGBTQ+ Scientist of the Year in recognition of outstanding contributions to his field.

Romano, a professor of statistics and economics at Stanford, was presented the award by Out to Innovate, formerly called the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals.

The award announcement credits Romano with contributing to fields ranging from econometrics to climate science.

“Romano has developed many new statistical tools, such as subsampling and the stationary bootstrap. The breadth and importance of Romano’s work are described in his letters of support, submitted by scholars across the United States and Europe,” the announcement said.

His supporters also note that Romano, as an open and out gay man, has been an inspiration to many LGBTQ+ students at Stanford.

Read more about the award and Romano on the Stanford news website.