Tierney wins prestigious statistical computing award

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Luke TierneyLuke Tierney, Ralph E. Wareham Professor of Mathematical Sciences in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, has won the "Statistical Computing and Graphics Award" of the American Statistical Association Sections of Statistical Computing and Statistical Graphics.

The award "recognizes an individual or team for innovation in computing, software, or graphics that has had a significant impact on statistical practice or research."   To qualify for this award, the prize-winning contributions of the awardee "will have had significant and lasting impacts on statistical computing, software or graphics."

Joe Lang, chair of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, hailed Tierney's selection.

"Those of us at Iowa have long appreciated Luke's many impactful contributions to the Department, the University, and the profession," Lang said.  "We are not alone. To give you some idea of what his scholars from around the world think, here are a few excerpts from his nomination letters:  'Luke has had an enormous impact on statistical computing and graphics over his career, spanning more than 30 years . . . There are very few statisticians who can provide to the community what Luke does – he is in a league of his own in statistical computing research. His computing work has made it easier for all of us to succeed in our research, and for governments, industry  and academia to do statistical computing.  Presenting Luke with this award acknowledges how enormously he has helped the statistics community.'  'There is no one I think more deserving of the award. Luke has made substantial novel contributions to statistical computing over the past 30+ years . . . The impact of Luke’s work is very large and extends across most of statistics and well outside into many other areas of scientific investigation and commercial applications of statistical methods and computing.'  '[Luke's contributions] have had incalculable impact on applied statistical practice, methodological and computational research, and the burgeoning field of big data analytics and data science.'

Tierney formerly served as chair of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science.

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.