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George Box: His interface with industry and its impact
Author(s) -
Hill William J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
applied stochastic models in business and industry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.413
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1526-4025
pISSN - 1524-1904
DOI - 10.1002/asmb.2024
Subject(s) - statistician , george (robot) , productivity , watson , operations research , sociology , management , computer science , marketing , public relations , engineering , economics , business , statistics , political science , mathematics , artificial intelligence , economic growth
This article discusses George Box's impact on industry and his desire for his students to listen to industry needs for applied statistics problem‐solving opportunities. Three examples are given including lesser known but nonetheless important ones on how Box's research and outreach impacted industry and attracted industrial support. These include (i) the role of his time series research with Gwilym Jenkins and George Tiao on better understanding environmental problems of air pollution, stratospheric ozone depletion and climate change; (ii) the enabling infrastructure that he set up at the University of Wisconsin including the Department of Statistics and, with Bill Hunter, the Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement; and (iii) his supervision of students, many of whom went into industry positions or interfaced closely with industry from their academic positions on deploying applied statistics in problem‐solving. In his own words in his recent autobiography ‘An Accidental Statistician’, he said ‘I wanted them (meaning his students) to take their ideas out of the classroom, to discuss and to argue them, and to meet industrial statisticians who could explain how they solved problems’. He had great respect for industry professionals and their role in helping him and others in the development of new applied statistical methods for problem‐solving. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.