Kimiko Bowman,
at Virginia Tech,
advised a num-
ber of gradu-
ate students
and published
three books and
approximately
200 papers.
rehabilitation, she was walking. Gladys Reynolds,
In an effort to do more for minorities in
a statistician and good friend of Bowman’s from
the statistics profession, Bowman also became
her Virginia Tech years, said, “I want to highlight
a contributing editor to the Current Index to
her determination and perseverance. … In 1980,
Statistics in 1977 and continued in this position
she was having polio-like symptoms and was
for more than 10 years. During that time, she
diagnosed with Post Polio Syndrome. In spite
translated articles from Japanese journals into
of this, she has continued to be as active and
English, added keywords and abstracts, and
proliferate as always.”
included them in the index. She also was asked
Bowman considers herself a “triple minority,”
to go to Japan as a liaison scientist for the Office
being an Asian and a woman, as well as someone
of Naval Research. She initially went for three
who suffers the effects of polio. “There were
months, but continued to visit throughout her
many struggles I had to overcome,” Bowman
career. In 1987, she was invited to attend the
said. “However, one must not lose sight of what
International Statistical Institute meeting in
we want to accomplish. So, I tried not to worry
Tokyo and to give a keynote address at the satellite
about slights or insignificant things.”
meeting at Mt. Fujiyama. During the meetings,
Instead, she became one of the first women
she received an audience with the Crown Prince
to be elected Fellow of the American Statistical
and Princess of Japan—an unforgettable memory
Association in 1976, worked hard to advance sci-
for her.
entific research using statistics, advised a number of
In 1994, Bowman retired from Oak Ridge
graduate students, and published three books and
National Laboratory as a senior research sci-
approximately 200 papers. One of those papers,
entist. Retirement has not slowed her down,
“Tables for Determining Statistical Significance
however. She continues to be a guest scientist
of Mutation Frequencies,” coauthored with M. A.
in the Computational Sciences and Engineering
Kastenbaum, received a Citation Classic in 1989
Division at Oak Ridge, working on research in
for being the fourth most-cited paper in the his-
distributional properties of estimators and test
tory of Mutation Research, an international jour-
statistics under non-normal sampling. She also
nal. Additionally, Bowman is an elected fellow of
consults with colleagues within Oak Ridge on
aspects of statistics such as procedures for validat-
the American Association for the Advancement
ing computer models in economics and stochas-
of Science (1970), an elected member of the
tic models in epidemiology and biology. In the
International Statistical Institute (1978), and an
words of Reynolds, “As a woman, minority, and
elected fellow of the Institute of Mathematical
a person with a disability, she has certainly been
Statistics (1987).
an inspiration and mentor to many of us in the
scientific community.” ■
6 AMSTAT NEWS SEPTEMBER 2008
SEPTEMBER AMSTAT FINAL.indd 6 8/20/08 2:26:54 PM
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