Statistics Department

A Brief History

Case Western Reserve University was created in 1967 as a result of the merger of Case Institute of Technology (est. 1871) and Western Reserve University (est. 1826). An effect of this merger was the consolidation of statistics efforts on both sides into a single Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Prior to the merger, the Statistics Department at Western Reserve University had existed since 1950, led by Julio Berrettoni. At the same time there were several statisticians on the faculty of the Case Institute of Technology, including Fred C. Leone, Judah Rosenblatt, Charles Bell and Z. Govindarajulu. The 1970's brought to campus well-known statisticians Lajos Takacs from Columbia and Shelley Zacks. Professor Zacks served as chairman of the unified Department of Mathematics and Statistics for a number of years.

Following the recent country-wide trend, and taking advantage of the excellent interdisciplinary environment that Case Western Reserve University provides, a separate Statistics Department was reestablished in 1994. The initial faculty consisted of Wojbor A. Woyczynski, who moved from the former Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Nell Sedransk, and Joe Sedransk ( both from SUNY at Albany), who was appointed the first chairman of the reborn department. Over the last three years the department has added dynamic researchers, Jiayang Sun, from Michigan, Jiming Jiang, from UC Berkeley, and Nidhan Choudhuri, from Michigan State to its core of regular faculty (Dr. Jiang has since moved back to the west-coast). Thomas P. Ryan, former Director of New Stat at the University of Newcastle, Australia, was hired as the founding Director of the Department's Statistical Consulting Center. That post was passed on to Scott Snyder in the summer of 2001. More appointments are planned.

 
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