ASA Founder and Fellow Linda Young was named one of West Texas A&M University’s 2026 Distinguished Alumni.
Young, who earned her bachelor’s and master’s in mathematics at WT A&M recently retired as chief mathematical statistician and director of research and development at the US Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. At NASS, she led a small team that adapted capture-recapture methods for the analysis of the 2012 Census of Agriculture, which resulted in NASS being able to—for the first time—publish measures of uncertainty for all its census estimates.
“Dr. Young’s groundbreaking contributions to agricultural statistics, coupled with her exemplary leadership and service to the profession, make her an outstanding candidate for this award,” ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein wrote in a nomination letter. “Her work has advanced not just her field but also has strengthened American agriculture and food security.”
She is now a senior fellow at the National Institute for Statistical Sciences.
Prior to her service at USDA, Young was a statistics professor at Oklahoma State University, the University of Nebraska, and the University of Florida. She has published four books and 120 journal articles over her career, and in 2018, she was given the Hall of Fame Award by OSU’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Young has served as the editor of the Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics and in a broad range of offices within the professional statistical societies, including president of four ASA chapters (Oklahoma, Nebraska, Florida, and the Washington Statistical Society).
The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor given by the WT Alumni Association. Young will be celebrated on October 22 at The Phoenix during WT’s homecoming 2026 celebrations.
Leave a Reply