The department’s statistical consulting group has collaborated with hundreds of clients since its beginnings as a Mathematical Statistics Service in 1927.
One of the more memorable collaborations walked into the building seeking help on an experiment design.
Professor Stuart Birrell and then graduate student Brad Dilts of Agricultural and Biological Engineering needed help on designing their combine experiment. They had evidence that the combine head should be tilted at five degrees left or right.
Professors Max Morris and Philip Dixon designed initial and follow-up experiments that utilized Morris’ expertise in response surface design.
The experiments, research, and results were published in Technometrics in 2009.
In the same year, their work was further honored by receiving the Frank Wilcoxon Prize for Best Practical Application Paper.
This award is given annually and is named for Frank Wilcoxon, a renowned chemist and statistician who published over 70 papers.