Technical Staff Members Research Articles

Multi-variety bone bank in China

This is a descriptive report of the establishment and operation of a Chinese bone bank, though not a typical one. While being engaged in collection, processing and storage of allogeneic tissues, the bone bank to which the author belongs concurrently develops and produces new, non-human derived, graft materials. Among others is reconstituted bone xenograft (RBX) which possesses strong osteoinductive capability without evoking immune rejection. Hence, its appellation "multi-variety bone bank," which was established by Dr. Hu Yunyu in 1990, the first of its kind in China. There are several salient features discriminating this bone bank from others. At this hospital-based non-profit institution, allograft hemi-joints are freshly prepared and distributed deep-frozen, instead of being freeze-dried on an industrialized basis for convenient transportation. The former has much more superior biological and mechanical properties as compared with the latter. However, allogeneic tissues are sometimes in short supply due to limited number of donors and the risk of some potential donors carrying viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), or hepatitis C virus (HCV). New graft materials, including reconstituted bone xenograft (RBX), were developed that serve as a supplement to allografts. RBX has been successfully used in clinical practice for the management of old fractures, nonunions and bone defects, most notably of contaminated, infected open fractures and osteomyelitis with the use of anti-infective reconstituted bone xenograft (ARBX). Additionally the multi-variety bone bank serves as a training base for educating professional personnel and researchers (postgraduates) in theories and technologies of tissue banking. Up to now, eighteen special technical staff members and approximately sixty senior researchers have been trained at this institution.

Assessing the relative contribution of the facets of agility to distributed systems development success: an Analytic Hierarchy Process approach

Recent studies have sought to identify different types/facets of agility that can potentially contribute to distributed Information Systems Development (ISD) project success. However, prior research has not attempted to assess the relative importance of the various types of agility with respect to different ISD success measures. We believe that such an assessment is critical, since this information can enable organizations to direct scarce organizational resources to the types of agility that are most relevant. To this end, we use the Analytic Hierarchy Process to unearth, from the perspectives of two stakeholder groups of distributed software development projects, managers, and technical staff members, as to which agility facets facilitate (and to what degree) on-time completion of projects and effective collaboration in distributed ISD teams. Furthermore, noting that there is a need for an overall set of prioritized agility facets (by integrating managerial and technically oriented perspectives), we present three ways to aggregate the preferences of the two groups.

Scientific Aspects of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Durability and Degradation

Rod Borup is a Team Leader in the fuel cell program at Los Alamos National Lab in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He received his B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Iowa in 1988 and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1993. He has worked on fuel cell technology since 1994, working in the areas of hydrogen production and PEM fuel cell stack components. He has been awarded 12 U.S. patents, authored over 40 papers related to fuel cell technology, and presented over 50 oral papers at national meetings. His current main research area is related to water transport in PEM fuel cells and PEM fuel cell durability. Recently, he was awarded the 2005 DOE Hydrogen Program R&D Award for the most significant R&D contribution of the year for his team's work in fuel cell durability and was the Principal Investigator for the 2004 Fuel Cell Seminar (San Antonio, TX, USA) Best Poster Award. Jeremy Meyers is an Assistant Professor of materials science and engineering and mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, where his research focuses on the development of electrochemical energy systems and materials. Prior to joining the faculty at Texas, Jeremy workedmore » as manager of the advanced transportation technology group at UTC Power, where he was responsible for developing new system designs and components for automotive PEM fuel cell power plants. While at UTC Power, Jeremy led several customer development projects and a DOE-sponsored investigation into novel catalysts and membranes for PEM fuel cells. Jeremy has coauthored several papers on key mechanisms of fuel cell degradation and is a co-inventor of several patents. In 2006, Jeremy and several colleagues received the George Mead Medal, UTC's highest award for engineering achievement, and he served as the co-chair of the Gordon Research Conference on fuel cells. Jeremy received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University. Bryan Pivovar received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1994. He completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota in 2000 under the direction of Profs. Ed Cussler and Bill Smyrl, studying transport properties in fuel cell electrolytes. He continued working in the area of polymer electrolyte fuel cells at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a post-doc (2000-2001), as a technical staff member (2001-2005), and in his current position as a team leader (2005-present). In this time, Bryan's research has expanded to include further aspects of fuel cell operation, including electrodes, subfreezing effects, alternative polymers, hydroxide conductors, fuel cell interfaces, impurities, water transport, and high-temperature membranes. Bryan has served at various levels in national and international conferences and workshops, including organizing a DOE sponsored workshop on freezing effects in fuel cells and an ARO sponsored workshop on alkaline membrane fuel cells, and he was co-chair of the 2007 Gordon Research Conference on Fuel Cells. Minoru Inaba is a Professor at the Department of Molecular Science and Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Doshisha University, Japan. He received his B.Sc. from the Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University, in 1984 and his M.Sc. in 1986 and his Dr. Eng. in 1995 from the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University. He has worked on electrochemical energy conversion systems including fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries at Kyoto University (1992-2002) and at Doshisha University (2002-present). His primary research interest is the durability of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), in particular, membrane degradation, and he has been involved in NEDO R&D research projects on PEFC durability since 2001. He has authored over 140 technical papers and 30 review articles. Kenichiro Ota is a Professor of the Chemical Energy Laboratory at the Graduate School of Engineering, Yokohama National University, Japan. He received his B.S.E. in Applied Chemistry from the University of Tokyo in 1968 and his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 1973. He has worked on hydrogen energy and fuel cells since 1974, working on materials science for fuel cells and water electrolysis. He has published more than 150 original papers, 70 review papers, and 50 scientific books. He is now the president of the Hydrogen Energy Systems Society of Japan, the chairman of the Fuel Cell Research Group of the Electrochemical Society of Japan, and the chairman of the National Committee for the Standardization of the Stationary Fuel Cells. ABSTRACT TRUNCATED« less

Kyu-Young Whang speaks out

Welcome to this installment of ACM SIGMOD Record's series of interviews with distinguished members of the database community. I'm Marianne Winslett, and today we are at the ICDE 2007 Conference in Istanbul. I have here with me Kyu-Young Whang, who is a professor of computer science at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and the director of the Advanced Information Technology Research Center. Before joining KAIST, Kyu-Young was a member of technical staff at IBM TJ Watson Research Center. His research interests are very broad, encompassing many different kinds of database systems as well as data mining and data streaming. He is an editor-in-chief of the VLDB Journal, a former member of the VLDB Endowment, and an IEEE Fellow. Kyu-Young's PhD is from Stanford. So, Kyu-Young, welcome!

WHO's Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems: Collecting Essential Information for Policy and Service Delivery

Information about mental health systems is essential for mental health planning to reduce the burden of neuropsychiatric disorders. Unfortunately, many low- and middle-income countries lack systematic information on their mental health systems. The objectives, scope, structure, and contents of mental health assessment and monitoring instruments commonly used in high-income countries may not be appropriate for use in middle- and low-income countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently developed the WHO Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS), a comprehensive assessment tool for mental health systems designed for middle- and low-income countries. WHO-AIMS was developed through an iterative process that included input from in-country and international experts on the clarity, content, validity, and feasibility of the instrument, as well as a pilot trial. The resulting instrument, WHO-AIMS 2.2, consists of six domains: policy and legislative framework, mental health services, mental health in primary care, human resources, public information and links with other sectors, and monitoring and research. These domains address the ten recommendations of the World Health Report 2001 through 28 facets and 155 items. All six domains need to be assessed to form a basic, yet broad, picture of a mental health system, with a focus on health sector activities. WHO-AIMS provides essential information for mental health policy and service delivery. Countries will be able to develop information-based mental health policy and plans with clear baseline information and targets. Moreover, they will be able to monitor progress in implementing reform policies, providing community services, and involving consumers, families, and other stakeholders in mental health promotion, prevention, care and rehabilitation. This article provides an overview of the rationale, development process, and potential uses and benefits of WHO-AIMS.

A Conversation With Harry Martz

Harry F. Martz was born June 16, 1942 and grew up in Cumberland, Maryland. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics (with a minor in physics) from Frostburg State University in 1964, and earned a Ph.D. in statistics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1968. He started his statistics career at Texas Tech University’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Statistics right after graduation. In 1978, he joined the technical staff at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in Los Alamos, New Mexico after first working as Full Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Utah State University in the fall of 1977. He has had a prolific 23-year career with the statistics group at LANL; over the course of his career, Martz has published over 80 research papers in books and refereed journals, one book (with co-author Ray Waller), and has four patents associated with his work at LANL. He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association and has received numerous awards, including the Technometrics Frank Wilcoxon Prize for Best Applications Paper (1996), Los Alamos National Laboratory Achievement Award (1998), R&D 100 Award by R&D Magazine (2003), Council for Chemical Research Collaboration Success Award (2004), and Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Distinguished Licensing Award (2004). Since retiring as a Technical Staff member at LANL in 2001, he has worked as a LANL Laboratory Associate.

Parallel processor [community service

This paper relates how IBM senior technical staff member, Sandra Johnson, was able to parlay her expertise into two successful careers: one as an architect of computing systems and the other as an energetic volunteer who introduces women, minorities and youngsters to technology. While heading a small business technology group and contributing to a company-wide technical leadership team, Johnson serves on the board of directors of the Austin Area Urban League, raising scholarship funds with her sorority, and co-chairing Black Family Technology Awareness Week, an international event of which IBM is a major sponsor.

Special issue in honour of Prof. Marc Ilegems

Special issue in honour of Prof. Marc Ilegems

Use of Productivity and Financial Indicators for Monitoring Performance in Academic Radiology Departments: U.S. Nationwide Survey

To determine how productivity- and finance-related indicators are used by radiology departments to evaluate departmental performance. The study met the criteria to be exempt from institutional review board approval. All subjects were informed of the purpose of the study and that their questionnaire responses would be kept confidential. For the study, a survey was sent to 132 members of the Society of Chairmen of Academic Radiology Departments (SCARD) nationwide. The survey was designed to (a) assess organizational information about hospital and radiology departments, (b) determine the types and mean numbers of productivity and financial indicators used by radiology departments, (c) determine how these indicators are used to influence departmental productivity, and (d) assess the reference-standard goals with which each indicator value was compared. A total of 77 variables were studied. Summary statistics, Spearman rank correlation coefficient, and chi2 analyses were performed. The response rate was 42% (55 of 132 surveyed SCARD members). The mean number of productivity indicators used by radiology departments was 4.55 +/- 2.56 (standard deviation), while the mean number of financial indicators used was 2.89 +/- 1.99. Twenty-two (40%) of the 55 responding departments used productivity indicators to monitor and provide feedback to radiologists, hospital leaders, and technical staff members for improved productivity, but only 11 (20%) departments used these indicators to compare personnel performances against specific productivity standards. The most frequent goal (of seven [13%] responding departments) of using the indicators was to increase the examination volume from the previous year by 5%-10%. Academic radiology departments across the United States do not use a standardized set of productivity and financial indicators to measure departmental performance. Examination volume is the most frequently used productivity indicator, whereas general expenses are commonly used as indicators of financial status.

BOOK REVIEW

Carson BE, Alper MED, Keck C, editors. Quality Management Systems for Assisted Reproductive Technology – ISO 9001:2000. 180 pages. London: Taylor & Francis, 2004. ISBN 1-84184-419-5. Paperback. GBP 39.95 This book is all about management, or how to improve your services. Editors Michael Alper and Christoph Keck are medical doctors, both assistant professors of obstetrics and gynecology, one in USA and the other in Germany, while editor Bryce E. Carson is the Vice President of Quality Paradigms Training and Consulting INC in New Jersey, USA. The management quality system, which is the core of the book, is called ISO 9001:2000, which according to the foreword helps you to control the way you and your team perform your duties within the practice. The broad outline is described in the first 90 pages, while the next section compares the ISO 9001:2000 to the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award (MBNQA) system, both of which were completely novel to this reviewer. Browsing through this first part of the book, which covers about two-thirds of the text, I kept looking for references to assisted reproductive technologies and how to run the services, but all I found was a few cryptic sentences exemplified in: “The IVF practice's design procedure should include details of the verification methodology to be adopted, including who is to carry out design verification and how it is to be performed and documented” (p. 69). This is management jargon to the highest degree, assumably intelligible to the initiated. It struck me that if IVF were replaced by ‘cosmetic surgery’ or any non-medical business label, the only other change required would be in the book title. The last part (Appendix 3) is more specific, namely “ISO 9001:2000 Quality Systems Manual” of Boston IVF, which is an outpatient fertility and in vitro fertilization center devoted to the design and delivery of care for infertile couples and individuals. This is a good outline of the quality management protocol, worthy of being studied by those who run similar centers and want to improve their services. The text is interspersed with numerous lists of points to remember in management endeavors, but it is all theoretical. I miss examples to enliven the reader. The pages on internal audit are dry as dust; some paragraphs based on real-life experience would have been refreshing. My task in reviewing is to advise obstetricians and gynecologists about the merits of the book, and to name those who may benefit from buying and reading it. The back cover states that it “will be a very welcome boon to staff at many [IVF] centers”. I would add that its message is applicable to any service delivery system, whether in health or other branches. The target group is the managers, rather than the practicing physicians and technical staff members, to the extent that there is a division between administration and process execution.

Charter School Authorizing: Policy Implications from a National Study

Even after more than a decade of experience, surprisingly little is understood about the entities responsible for authorizing and overseeing charter schools. The authors argue that the success of the charter school movement depends on the effectiveness of those authorizers. WHEN THE charter school movement began in the early 1990s, one key set of players received little attention: the public entities that sponsor or authorize these unconventional schools. A charter, after all, is properly understood as a contract between two parties: the school operator and the authorizer. For the charter movement to succeed, both operators and authorizers must do their jobs effectively. An operator must run a successful school that delivers the results it promised. An authorizer must see that this happens by providing various forms of oversight and assistance and by renewing the charter if all goes well -- or pulling the plug if it does not. The role of the authorizer, therefore, is pivotal to the overall success of the charter movement. Yet surprisingly little is really understood about authorizers. They have rarely been scrutinized closely or evaluated, especially at the cross-state level.1 So how are charter authorizers doing across our country? To address this question, as part of a broader team of researchers, we recently studied state charter school policy environments and the practices of authorizers in 23 states and the District of Columbia (herein referred to as 24 states).2 These entities were selected for study since their chartered schools had at least a minimal level of legal or fiscal autonomy. Without such autonomy, a charter-style performance contract means little, and ultimately the role of a given authorizer is less vital. We examined authorizer practices to see whether high-quality oversight and accountability processes were in place that did not choke the chartered schools in red tape and paperwork. Here we summarize our key findings, especially those regarding the critical policy issues of which types of authorizing entities are perceived to be doing the best jobs and how many authorizers per state are needed. Research Design Before we get to the findings, let's briefly review the methods used to collect data and draw conclusions. The research design included structured surveys of three key charter constituencies in each of the 24 states: 1) major charter authorizers (those doing the actual authorizing of at least three or more operating charter schools); 2) charter operators (those actually running schools, who are on the receiving end of the authorizing process); and 3) knowledgeable observers of the statewide charter scene (people not engaged in authorizing or operating schools but broadly familiar with such activities, including charter school network directors, technical assistance providers, legislative or state department staff members, and various charter advocates). We recognize that individuals in any of these groups may have tunnel vision with regard to their own roles and may exhibit some favorable bias toward the whole idea of charter schools. However, we judged that the authorizers, operators, and observers -- taken together -- would be in the best position to know about and be able to judge the policies and practices within a given state. Moreover, by triangulating among the responses of the three groups, we believe it is possible to obtain a reasonably accurate picture of their perceived reality. The primary data collection tools were three online surveys, one each for authorizers, operators, and observers. All three groups were asked to rate their state's policy climate for charter schools and authorizers, as well as the performance of the authorizing bodies as a whole, on 56 criteria. Strong response rates were achieved for most states. Ten percent or more of all operating charter schools responded from each state (with over 40% responding in 10 of the 24 states). …

Mental models of information retrieval systems

Mental models of information retrieval systems

Standards for databases on the grid

Relational databases supported applications in a centralized environment in the 1960's and 1970's. They progressed to a client/server environment in the 1980's. The 1990's saw application servers with a multi-tiered architecture, in most cases supported by an RDBMS. Most recently we have seen the emergence of XML, XML storage in DBMS's, navigation within an XML document via XPath, and the XQuery query language for XML. In this article, Susan provides an introduction to the Grid and describes how databases will be used in this new environment. The Global Grid Forum (GGF) is producing technical specification to enable both Relational and XML databases to be located, accessed, and replicated in this environment. They make use of a variety of existing an emerging database, file, networking, and web services standards. Susan is a Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM. She is a member of the GGF DAIS (Data Access and Integration Services) working group. Jim Melton and Andrew Eisenberg

JACS AT 125

A REPORT ON THE USE OF PRINciples of physical organic chemistry to create functional surfaces based on self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) [ J. Am. Chem. Soc , 111, 321 (1989)] has earned a place among the most highly cited papers in the Journal of the American Chemical Society's 125-year history. This paper showed how stable surfaces exposing a single organic functional group could be created by adsorption of thiols on gold—for a dozen different groups, from nonpolar methyl and CF3 groups to halides, nitriles, and carboxylic acids—and described how these surfaces could be used to predict, tailor, and control wettability, says coauthor Colin D. Bain. Bain was a graduate student with Harvard University chemistry professor George M. Whitesides when the work was done and is now a lecturer at Oxford University's department of chemistry The other principal investigator on the study was AT&T Bell Laboratories technical staff member Ralph G. Nuzzo, who is currently ...

Transparency and predictability measures for U.S. and Russian strategic arms reductions

The Nonproliferation Review/Summer 2002 Oleg Bukharin is on the Senior Research Staff of the Program on Science and Global Security at the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Princeton University. James Doyle is a Technical Staff Member in the Nonproliferation and International Secuirty Deivison at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Transparency and Predictability Measures for U.S. and Russian Strategic Arms Reductions

Corrections

January 2002, page 21 —The quotation attributed to Thomas Prettyman, a technical staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory, should have been attributed to LANL technical staff member Rob York. February 2002, page 21 —The photograph identified as that of MacArthur Fellow Brooks Pate actually showed another MacArthur fellow.© 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Organizational competence analysis: Experience of a Japanese multinational

AbstractAs global competition intensifies rather than abates, firms must develop skills in scanning and monitoring other firms' competencies and assess their future focus and paths relative to their own. I propose a competence‐based approach to competitive analysis for understanding how rival firms in technology‐based industries may compete into the future. I propose an organizational competence analysis (OCA) framework that links the strategic component of competitive analysis to decision making by emphasizing the identification and interpretation of a competitor's organizational competencies (both technical and nontechnical). I apply the OCA framework by analyzing a large Japanese multinational (Firm X) in a technology‐based industry. The results obtained from open source materials are assessed and evaluated by Firm X's technical staff members for validity. Based on the feedback, we conclude that a firm could benefit, as a result of using the OCA framework, from increased understanding of a competing firm's source of competitiveness in the form of its organizational competencies, substantiated by ongoing monitoring of relevant competitive information from both the firm and industry levels. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Intelligence + Community = Creativity

The invention of the electret microphone illustrates the power of an environment that promotes creativity in technology. The art of understanding is almost a given, considering the educational requirements for entry-level positions in most research communities. However, creativity, even among enlightened people, is not a foregone conclusion. Creativity is a fragile process. Management with research experience and a free and an open multidisciplinary research community are needed for creativity to thrive. Labs is such a community, with a long history of creative discoveries that have contributed to the improved quality of life for all. I am fortunate to be a part of this community because it has given me the opportunity to not only contribute to several technical fields, but also to contribute to improving diversity. I share here some of my personal experiences in this community. is one for Labs. It's not for me. It could not have been done anywhere else but Labs. I share this with all of you. This is a quote from Horst Stormer when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his contribution to the fractional quantum Hall effect. The prize was shared by Robert Laughlin and Daniel Tsui who worked with Horst to earn Labs its third Nobel Prize in physics in as many years. A quote from Laughlin: Bell Laboratories is highly unusual in sponsoring the kind of pure scientific research that has earned its scientists more Nobels than all but a handful of nations. Most industrial research is conducted under total secrecy so that the sponsoring company can benefit from exclusive use of any inventions that result. Each of these quotes reflects my sentiments. 55 Special People There are many unique features about Labs, and the nice thing is that these features are flexible depending on need. Let me begin by first acknowledging the more than 55 collaborators with whom I have had the benefit of publishing over the years. Most of them are at Labs, but some are with universities in the United States, Europe, Brazil, and Japan. Together we have over 100 publications and more than 40 patents on various aspects of polymer charging and electro-acoustic transducers. All of my collaborators are very special people, usually in scientific disciplines quite different from my own. Several stand out and must be mentioned here. My collaboration with Prof. Gerhard Sessler, now at The University of Darmstadt, started when he was a Member of Technical Staff at Labs. Together, we proposed the ideas around the electret microphone. We have continued our collaboration up to the present time. More than 50 publications and 15 patents on electroacoustic transducers and various methods of polymer conditioning are the results of our lifelong partnership. Since Sessler's departure form Labs, we still spend time together both at the Technical University of Darmstadt and at Labs. The study of the electronic behavior of polymers and its application to electroacoustics is truly a multidisciplinary task requiring knowledge in polymer science, electrical and mechanical properties of polymers, and acoustics. We were also interested in charge storage in polymers as applied to biomedical fields such as cell growth under weak electrical fields, and the use of special electret transducers for the non-invasive measurement of the human cardiovascular system. The use of electrets in air filtration and as memory devices was also of great interest. Humidity Always Interfered Electrets, best described as the electrical analog of a permanent magnet, have been around since the 1920s when Eguchi coined the term, but references go back as early as the 1700s when Sir Francis Gray recorded the behavior of a pith ball suspended over a wax mixture that had been solidified in an iron container. Gray observed that the distance the ball deflected depended on the relative humidity. …

Unexpected benefits of testing

Performance ImprovementVolume 39, Issue 9 p. 40-44 Article Unexpected benefits of testing Edmond T. Parker, Edmond T. Parker Edmond T. Parker is Director, Consulting at ICUS, a company that designs, implements, and runs e-learning programs for corporations. Its learning strategies make use of advanced techniques in instructional design and information technology while maintaining the human touch through interactive coaching. Until recently, he was a distinguished member of technical staff, development manager, and instructional technologist with Lucent Technologies where his chief responsibilities were in the training of software developers, evaluation, and test design. Trained as a social scientist, much of his career has been international. At various times he has been director of the Office for Intercultural Education at Boston University, an interculturalist and negotiator for an American publisher, a Senior Fulbright-Hays Professor in Egypt, and a training manager in the Arabian-American Oil Company in Saudi Arabia. More recently, he worked for AT&T, Bell Laboratories, and Lucent Technologies. While many of his publications have been about international training, for the past three years testing has been one of his primary interests. He may be reached at ICUS Pte. Ltd., 1 International Business Park, #01-13B, The Synergy, Singapore 609917; Phone: (65) 566-1411; E-mail: Edmond@icus.net.Search for more papers by this author Edmond T. Parker, Edmond T. Parker Edmond T. Parker is Director, Consulting at ICUS, a company that designs, implements, and runs e-learning programs for corporations. Its learning strategies make use of advanced techniques in instructional design and information technology while maintaining the human touch through interactive coaching. Until recently, he was a distinguished member of technical staff, development manager, and instructional technologist with Lucent Technologies where his chief responsibilities were in the training of software developers, evaluation, and test design. Trained as a social scientist, much of his career has been international. At various times he has been director of the Office for Intercultural Education at Boston University, an interculturalist and negotiator for an American publisher, a Senior Fulbright-Hays Professor in Egypt, and a training manager in the Arabian-American Oil Company in Saudi Arabia. More recently, he worked for AT&T, Bell Laboratories, and Lucent Technologies. While many of his publications have been about international training, for the past three years testing has been one of his primary interests. He may be reached at ICUS Pte. Ltd., 1 International Business Park, #01-13B, The Synergy, Singapore 609917; Phone: (65) 566-1411; E-mail: Edmond@icus.net.Search for more papers by this author First published: 08 February 2007 https://doi.org/10.1002/pfi.4140390912Citations: 1 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume39, Issue9October 2000Pages 40-44 RelatedInformation

A conversation with John W. Tukey and Elizabeth Tukey

John Wilder Tukey, Donner Professor of Science Emeritus at Princeton University, was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on June 16, 1915. After earning bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry at Brown University in 1936 and 1937, respectively, he started his career at Princeton University with a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1939 followed by an immediate appointment as Henry B. Fine Instructor in Mathematics. A decade later, at age 35, he was advanced to a full professorship. He directed the Statistical Research Group at Princeton University from its founding in 1956; when the Department of Statistics was formed in 1965, he was named its first chairman and held that post until 1970. He was appointed to the Donner Chair in 1976 and remained at Princeton until reaching emeritus status in 1985. At the same time, he was a Member of Technical Staff at ATT Bell Laboratories since 1945, advancing to Assistant Director of Research, Communications Principles, in 1958 and, in 1961, to Associate Executive Director, Research Information Sciences, a position he held until retirement in 1985. Throughout World War II he participated in projects assigned to the Princeton Branch of the Frankford Arsenal Fire Control Design Division. This wartime service marked the beginning of his close and continuing association with governmental committees and agencies. Among other activities he was a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Conference on the Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapons Tests in Geneva in 1959, served on the President's Science Advisory Committee from 1960 to 1964 and was a member of President Johnson's Task Force on Environmental Pollution and President Nixon's Task Force on Air Pollution. The long list of awards and honors that Tukey has received includes the S. S. Wilks Medal from the American Statistical Association (ASA) (1965), the National Medal of Science (1973), the Medal of Honor from the IEEE (1982), the Deming Medal from the American Society of Quality Control (1983) and the Educational Testing Service Award (1990). He holds honorary degrees from Case Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago and Brown, Temple, Yale and Waterloo Universities; in June 1998, he was awarded an honorary degree from Princeton University. He has led the way to the fields of exploratory data analysis (EDA) and robust estimation. His contributions to the spectral analysis of time series and other aspects of digital signal processes have been widely used in engineering and science. His collaboration with a fellow mathematician resulted in the discovery of the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm. Author of Exploratory Data Analysis and eight volumes of collected papers, he has contributed to a wide variety of areas and has coauthored several books. He has guided more than 50 graduate students to successful Ph.D.'s and inspired their careers. A detailed list of his students as well as a complete curriculum vitae can be found in The Practice of Data Analysis (1997), edited by D. Brillinger, L. Fernholz, and S. Morgenthaler, Princeton University Press. John W. Tukey married Elizabeth Louise Rapp in 1950. Before their marriage, she was Personnel Director of the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey.