the 1992 Samuel S. Wilks Award from the
American Statistical Association.
MATHCOUNTS Foundation
Born on December 13, 1915, in
Portland, Oregon, Dixon recognized
early in his childhood that numbers fas-
MATHCOUNTS Foundation staff made a presentation to the ASA’s Center for cinated him, and he realized a solid edu-
Statistics Education about MATHCOUNTS, the largest national mathematics cation would enable him to pursue his
competition for middle-school students, encouraging further ASA involvement interests. Dixon earned his BA in mathe-
in the program. ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein is a member of the matics from Oregon State College in 1938,
MATHCOUNTS Foundation Board of Directors. his MA in mathematics from the University
of Wisconsin in 1939, and his PhD in
mathematical statistics under Samuel S.
Wilks from Princeton in 1944. He was on
the faculty at the University of Oklahoma
(1942–1943), the University of Oregon
(1946–1955), and UCLA (1955–Emeritus
since 1986). During the second World War,
he was an operations analyst at Princeton
University and on Guam.
While at the University of Oregon in
1951, Dixon, together with Frank Massey,
published a first-of-its-kind statistical text-
book for nonmathematicians—its clear
brevity and extensive tables made it a pop-
ular desk reference, as well—which went
through four editions; the text was one of
Pictured (from left) are Lou DiGioia, executive director of MATHCOUNTS; Ron the most-cited works from 1961–1982.
Wasserstein, ASA executive director; Keith Crank, ASA assistant director of research and At UCLA, Dixon initiated the
graduate education; Kristen Chandler, deputy director and program director of the
Biostatistics Division in the School of
MATHCOUNTS Foundation; Martha Aliaga, ASA director of programs; Rick Peterson,
Public Health and organized and chaired
ASA education programs associate; and Rebecca Nichols, ASA assistant director of
the Department of Biomathematics in the
K–16 education programs.
School of Medicine.
As a member of the US-USSR Joint
Working Group on Computer Software
(1974–1980), Dixon served as liaison
Army Wilks Award. The award was pre- on the ASA-NCTM Joint Committee from
to the Kolmogorov Laboratory at the
sented to Samaniego on October 22 at 1996–2001, and as chair of the joint com-
University of Moscow.
the 2008 Army Conference on Applied mittee in 1998.
Dixon made major contributions to non-
Statistics at VMI.
parametric statistics, serial correlation, adaptive
The U.S. Army Wilks Award is periodi-
(up and down) experimental designs, robust
cally given to a deserving individual who has Obituary
statistics, and the analysis of incomplete data.
made substantial contributions to statistical
He was a Fellow of the American Statistical
methodology and to applications affecting Wilfrid J. Dixon
Association, the Institute of Mathematical
the practice of statistics in the Army. The
Statistics, the Royal Statistical Society, and the
Wilfrid J. Dixon, a
award was established to commemorate the
American Association for the Advancement
pioneer in statistics
career of Samuel S. Wilks, especially his ser-
of Science.
education and statis-
vice to the Army.
Many of his more than 120 publications
tical software, died
resulted from long-term collaborations in
of heart disease on
pharmacology, physiology, surgery, neu-
J. Michael Shaughnessy
September 20 at his
rology, cytology, and psychiatry. He was a
home. He was 92.
major contributor to statistical consulting,
J. Michael Shaughnessy, mathematics profes-
Dixon Dixon’s ground-
pioneering the development of statistical
sor at Portland State University in Portland,
breaking introductory
software by obtaining NIH funding to cre-
Oregon, was recently elected NCTM presi-
statistics textbook, his founding role in the
ate the Health Sciences Computing Facility
dent-elect. He will serve a one-year term as
Division of Biostatistics in UCLA’s School
in the UCLA School of Medicine and by
president-elect that will begin at the end of
of Public Health and the Department of
producing general parameterized statisti-
April 2009. He will then serve a two-year
Biomathematics in UCLA’s School of
cal software, first released in the 1960s as
term as NCTM president, starting in April
Medicine, and his pioneering development
the Biomedical Computer Programs and later
2010. Shaughnessy has served as a referee for
of statistical software led to the awarding of evolving into BMDP Statistical Software. He
the Journal of Statistics Education since 2000,
organized the Statistical Computing sections
36 AMSTAT NEWS DECEMBER 2008
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