Department of Statistics at Case Western Reserve University
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,
and Jiming Jiang, from UC Berkeley,
to its core of regular faculty. More appointments are planned.