The William G. Hunter Award is named and presented annually in honor of Statistics Division's founding chair, Dr. William G. Hunter. It is awarded to a person whose qualities mirror those of Bill Hunter. This includes substantial contributions to statistical consulting, education for practitioners, and integration of statistics with other disciplines as well as demonstrated excellence in communication and implementing innovative applied statistical methods. Nomination form available from the ASQ statistics division.

Recipients of the William G. Hunter Award

David Bacon Receives 2000 ASQ Statistics Division's Hunter Award

The 2000 William G. Hunter Award was presented to David W. Bacon at the Fall Technical Conference (FTC) in Minneapolis, MN. The Statistics Division of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) established the Hunter Award in 1987 in memory of the Division's founding chair to promote, encourage and acknowledge outstanding accomplishments during a career in the broad field of applied statistics. The attributes that characterize Bill Hunter's career - consultant, educator for practitioners, communicator, and integrator of statistical thinking into other disciplines - also characterize Dave's career.

At the award presentation, Dave was described as follows: Throughout his career, Dave has integrated statistical thinking and methods into numerous areas of science and engineering through his teaching, research and administration. After completing his PhD in statistics at the University of Wisconsin, where he was a colleague of Bill Hunter, he joined DuPont Canada. In 1968, Dave returned to academia as an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Queen's University. There he excelled as an instructor in the classroom and in a mentoring and tutoring role. His research contributions focusing on the development and application of statistical methods to chemical engineering problems have been published in an array of journals. Dave's career at Queen's went beyond the Department of Chemical Engineering when he served as Dean of Applied Science. His excellent communication skills allowed him to serve in this capacity with distinction for more than 10 years. Dave's accomplishments are not limited to Queen's University. He has developed and presented short courses in statistical methods internationally. He has consulted with companies in numerous industry sectors. Since his early retirement from Queen's University in 1999, Dave has been working as a consultant in Six Sigma.

Dave made the following remarks when he accepted the award:

I want to begin by expressing my deep appreciation to the Hunter Award Committee of the Statistics Division of ASQ for this significant honor. I also wish to thank Tom Harris and John MacGregor, and others who nominated me for this award, along with those who provided additional support.

It is a humbling experience to review the list of previous recipients of the William G. Hunter Award. I am privileged to join their company.

 

This award has very special significance for me since, as some of you know, Bill Hunter and I were graduate students together in the early 1960s in what was then a newly established Department of Statistics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. I would like to take a few minutes to share my recollections of Bill Hunter the statistician and Bill Hunter the man.

Bill began his graduate studies in Madison one year before I did, and he completed his program two years before me. This was an early indication of Bill's talent for leading the way for other aspiring statisticians.

He and I shared an apartment for eight months or so, and that was a truly memorable experience. He had some unique tastes, beginning with the stimulating art of the Swiss painter Paul Klee, and a fascination with military march music, especially at 6 o'clock in the morning. He introduced me to a new breakfast dish - dollops of ice cream topped with wheat germ. And I will never forget our regular nightcaps of Black Russians - we slept very well!

Even as a graduate student, Bill displayed many of the characteristics that set him apart as a superb practicing statistician. Above all, statistics was FUN for Bill, and the joy he generated in his professional activities (and in his leisure activities) was infectious to any who were lucky enough to be associated with him. A few of you here today, such as Lynne Hare, Jim Lucas and Steve Bailey, who attended the Gordon Research Conferences on Statistics in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in the "old days", when Bill created and performed his unique skits can attest to his rich and uninhibited sense of humor.

His creative use of graphical summaries was another of his distinguishing traits. I still have one or two of his wonderful doodles that he composed during lectures that we attended together.

Bill's appetite for variety in statistical challenges set a marvelous example for his colleagues and the many students from diverse fields of study whom he taught. Like our mutual Ph.D. supervisor, George Box, Bill shared his rich and varied consulting experiences from industry, government, and the academic world freely with anyone who showed interest.

His achievements as an educator, both within the university and beyond, are legendary. How many people teaching design of experiments have been stimulated by the 101 examples of designed experiments developed and conducted by Bill's students, which he summarized in a brief but wonderfully useful Technometrics paper many years ago?

In summary, Bill Hunter was the epitome of a professional statistician - brilliant, creative, inspiring, hilarious and kind. And he was an exemplary human being. I am truly honored to receive this award which bears his name.

1988 William G. Hunter Award Recipient: William J. Hill

The recipient of the first William G. Hunter Award is William J. Hill of Allied Signal. Bill received his award at the Fall Technical Conference on October 20. He was commended for his fine record in statistics as an excellent communicator, consultant, educator, innovator, integrator of statistics with other disciplines and an implementer who obtains meaningful results.

Bill received a Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1966 and is presently Director of the Center for Applied Mathematics at Allied-Signal in Buffalo. His multi-disciplinary group of consultants works on more than 80 projects each year. Their quality and productivity improvement efforts have resulted in saving Allied-Signal over S 1.5 million a year.

Bill has taught numerous industrial and academic courses on the effectiveness of statistical thinking in business and science. He has assisted in organizing and funding 5 conferences on statistical education in university sties and MBA curricula. He is author or co-author of more than 40 publications, has spoken at more than 65 scientific and business meetings and has given 34 separate TV, radio and newspaper interviews.
(excerpted from the Winter, 1988-1989 Newsletter)

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1989 William G. Hunter Award Recipient: Rudolf G. Kittlitz

The Statistics Division is proud to announce that the recipient of the 1989 William G. Hunter Award is Rudolf G. Kittlitz. The award was presented at the 1989 Fall Technical Conference to recognize Rudy for his solid record of accomplishment in applying statistics to problem solving. In presenting the award to Rudy, the Division recognizes and commends him for his fine record in statistics as an excellent communicator, consultant, educator, innovator, integrator of statistics with other disciplines and as an implementer who obtains meaningful results.

One of Rudy's most recent contributions was serving as writing committee chair for the book Quality Assurance in the Chemical and Process Industries: A Manual of Good Practices, developed with the support of the Chemical and Process Industries Division and published by Quality Press. Rudy obtained his BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Mississippi in 1957 and is currently a Research Associate in the Fibers Department of DuPont. He has worked in Wilmington and Seaford, Delaware and in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He consults regularly for DuPont's Fibers sites on statistical and quality problems.

Rudy developed and has taught a course titled "Practical Statistics Course for Textile Fibers" at Chattanooga, Martinsville, Seaford and Wilmington. While in Chattanooga, he taught a graduate level course in Industrial Statistics and Quality Control for the University of Tennessee. He has presented papers at local, regional and national meetings of ASQ.

A Fellow of ASQ and currently a Regional Director, Rudy has also served as a Regional Councilor for the Chemical and Process Industries Division. Chairman of the Chattanooga and Delaware Sections, and a founding and charter member of the Delaware Section. In the Delaware Section, he co-developed and teaches a course titled "Quality Engineering Refresher." Rudy is a member of the American Statistical Association, a Registered Professional Engineer, a Certified Quality Engineer, and Certified Reliability Engineer and is listed in Who's Who in America.
(excerpted from the Winter 1989-1990,Newsletter)

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1990 William G. Hunter Award Recipient: Ronald D. Snee

Dr. Ronald D. Snee, manager of Quality Systems and Technology at DuPont has been named the recipient of the 1990 William G. Hunter Award for his contributions to the creative development and application of statistical techniques to problem solving in the quality field. In receiving this award, Dr. Snee is recognized as a person who, like Bill Hunter, has been a distinguished leader at the integration of statistics and quality. As stated in a letter supporting Dr. Snee's nomination for this award, "both men [share] similar visions in working tirelessly to bring statistical solutions to quality problems and to communicate it with eloquence and enthusiasm.

Dr. Snee has been an articulate communicator at numerous ASQ, ASA, Gordon Research and university conferences on Total Quality, Statistics in Industry, Mixtures, and Design of Experiments. As the Consultant Supervisor at DuPont for over a decade, he provides expert consulting services to product quality studies, engineering studies, and environmental quality analyses, including work related to stratospheric ozone, groundwater, and gasoline lead emissions.

Dr. Snee began his career as an educator, teaching statistics at Rutgers University, and continues to serve the University of Delaware as an adjunct professor. His resume and long list of publications reflect his work both as an integrator of the scientific method into quality, engineering, and environmental studies and as an implementer who obtains results.

This year's award was presented at the 1990 Fall Technical Conference in Richmond, Virginia.
(excerpted from the Winter 1990-1991 Newsletter)

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1991 William G. Hunter Recipient: Gerald J. Hahn

Dr. Gerald J. Hahn has been named the recipient Statistics Division's 1991 William G. Hunter Award. Gerald is manager of the Management Science and Statistics Program at General Electric Company's Research and Development Center, where he has worked since 1955. Since 1973, he has led a group responsible for developing, promoting, and guiding the proactive and effective use of data-based methodologies throughout GE.

He is the author of more than 100 publications and writes the "Random Samplings"' column for Chemtech. His 1991 book Statistical Intervals: A Guide for Practitioners, with Bill Meeker, is published by John Wiley and Sons. He has written two previous books and contributed to eight others. He is a Fellow of both the American Statistical Association and ASQ and has served both organizations in a variety of leadership positions, including founding leader of ASA's Committee on Quality and Productivity. He is an elected member of the International Statistics Institute and serves as an adjunct professor at Union College.

Gerry has won ASQ's Jack Youden Prize (1970), its Shewell Prize (1975. 1990), its Brumbaugh Award (1974, 1980, 1982) and its Wilcoxon Prize (1979, 1989). At the GE R&D Center, Dr. Hahn was recognized in 1984 with a Coolidge Fellowship - the organization's highest honor - for his "wide-ranging accomplishments in the fields of statistics and quality control."

This year's award was presented at the 1991 Fall Technical Conference in Lexington, Kentucky. Gerry is no stranger at this annual event: in particular, he presented the Youden Memorial Address at the 1987 FTC.
(excerpted from the Winter, 1991-1992.Newsletter)

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1992 William G. Hunter Award Recipient: Brian L. Joiner

The Statistics Division of ASQ is proud to announce that Dr. Brian L. Joiner has been chosen as recipient of the 1992 William G. Hunter Award. Dr. Joiner, CEO of Joiner Associates in Madison, Wisconsin, was selected from a field of highly talented candidates for his distinctive leadership in statistical thinking and quality improvement.

Beginning with his career with the National institute of Standards and Technology (known then as the National Bureau of Standards), while completing his Ph.D. in Statistics at Rutgers University, Dr. Joiner modeled excellence in statistical consulting. He went on to found the statistical consulting function at the National Bureau of Standards on Boulder, Colorado, and also at Pennsylvania State University and then to direct the University of Wisconsin-Madison Statistical Laboratory.

His contributions in statistical education include co-development of the Minitab Statistical Computing System (an intermediate statistical computing package used by students and practitioners, alike), and numerous presentations of his seminar on "Statistical Thinking for Managers". He has contributed much to the statistical education body of knowledge in the form of papers and presentations.

Never content to preach to the choir of statisticians, Dr. Joiner carried the statistical message to many other disciplines, as is evidenced by his publications and joint publications on such topics as cancer research, fire prevention, medicine, electricity pricing, and potential atomic energy hazards. In his presentations, he exhibits outstanding communications skills and is much sought after as a keynote speaker at national and international quality conferences. He organizes and continues to present a two-day seminar on Dr. Deming's Principles' (with Deming himself) and has been keynote or for four annual "William G. Hunter Conferences on Quality" sponsored by the Madison Area Quality Improvement Network. He has also served as a principal speaker at seminars for the Philadelphia Area Council for Excellence.

Dr. Joiner's innovations are both technical and managerial. He was winner and co-winner of the Frank Wilcoxon prize for best application paper m Technometrics in 1976 and 1977. More recently, his leadership and innovation provided the basis for The Team Handbook- How to Use Teams to Improve Quality (with Peter Scholtes, principal author).

As a winner of the Deming Medal, a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the founding editor of Current Index to Statistics, one of nine judges for the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, a winner of the University of Wisconsin Distinguished Service Citation and much more, Dr. Brian Joiner has been at the forefront of the quality movement in the United States for more than a decade.
(excerpted from the Winter, 1992-1993 Newsletter)

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1993 William G. Hunter Award Recipient: John F. MacGregor

The Statistics Division is proud to announce that Dr. John F. MacGregor has been chosen as the recipient of the 1993 William G. Hunter Award. Named in honor of the Division's Founding Chairman, the Hunter Award is presented to an individual who has made substantial contributions to statistical consulting, education for practitioners and integration of statistical thinking with other disciplines. The awardee must also show excellence in communication and innovation in applied statistics. John was selected from a field of highly talented candidates for his distinctive leadership in statistical thinking and process control. The award was presented to John at the 1993 Fall Technical Conference in Rochester, New York.

Dr. MacGregor is currently Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. John received his M.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1967 and his Ph.D. in 1972 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. John has always set high standards for his research and that of his students. He clearly recognizes that his research has been built on the foundations of others' work, and he is very careful to acknowledge their contributions. John has supervised the education of 40 Masters students and 17 Ph.D. students. These, graduates have successful careers in industry and academia in the United States, Canada and Europe.

John has been a prolific researcher, having published 90 papers in the areas of chemical reaction engineering, statistical process control, chemometrics, time series analysis and engineering process control. He addresses substantive practical and theoretical issues, and he publishes his work in good quality journals. His papers are well written. He avoids unnecessary verbiage, and he expresses his ideas clearly and concisely. His work is often cited in the chemical engineering and statistical communities.

New methodologies developed in academia are rarely transferred into practice by just publishing papers. John has a stellar record for interacting with industry through intensive short courses, workshops and consulting. He is an effective communicator, having an ability to convey difficult concepts clearly and simply. After attending one of his lectures, you want to go and learn more about the topic. He stimulates one thinking process, rather than stifling it!

John has established a worldwide reputation in applying statistical methodologies to process control and process monitoring. He has always advocated that engineers use statistics in the many facets of their work. He has also emphasized that appropriate statistics must be used. John has worked hard to provide a bridge between statisticians and the control engineering community.
(excerpted from the Winter, 1993-1994 Newsletter)

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1994 William G. Hunter Award Recipient: J. Edward Jackson

The 1994 William G. Hunter Award was presented to J. Edward Jackson at the Fall Technical Conference in Birmingham, Alabama. The ASQ Statistics Division established the Hunter Award to promote, encourage, and acknowledge outstanding accomplishments during a career in the broad field of applied statistics. Bill Hunter was the Division's founding chair, and Ted Jackson follows Bill's model of statistical leadership as a communicator, consultant, educator and innovator, with the ability to integrate statistical thinking into many disciplines.

Ted has completed a distinguished career of over 35 veers at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, New York. He did pioneering work in multivariate quality control and has written over 50 papers and 100 book reviews. which he continues to do in his retirement. He has made significant contributions to the programs at the University of Rochester and at Rochester Institute of Technology. He is a Fellow of both ASQ and the American Statistical Association (ASA) and, like Bill Hunter, served as Chair of ASA's Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences.
(excerpted from the Winter, 1994-1995 Newsletter and January, 1995 Amstat News)

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1995 William G. Hunter Award Recipient: William H. Lawton

 

The 1995 William G. Hunter Award was presented to William H. Lawton at the Fall Technical Conference in St. Louis, MO. The ASQ Statistics Division established the Hunter Award to promote, encourage, and acknowledge outstanding accomplishments during a career in the broad field of applied statistics. Bill Lawton follows Bill Hunter's model of statistical leadership as a communicator, consultant, educator, and innovator, with the ability to integrate statistical thinking into many disciplines.

Bill is a Fellow of both ASQ and the American Statistical Association (ASA) and is past chair of ASA's Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences (SPES). He received his Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of California at Berkeley. Bill made outstanding contributions during his 28 years with Eastman Kodak, first as a statistical consultant to manufacturing and R&D, and later as a leader who championed the use of statistical thinking and methods throughout the company. In the 1980s he served on Kodak's Quality Advisory Council, a council of senior managers reporting to the President. During the 1990s, Bill was a Senior Research Associate with Joiner Associates and Professor of Marketing at the William E. Simon School of Business Administration. During this period, Bill did pioneering work on quality- based research involving the linking of product development to the "voice of the customer."

Bill is the author of over 20 papers in the application of statistical methods in the physical and engineering sciences, business forecasting, and marketing. He received the Wilcoxon Award in 1971 and 1974 and the Shewell Award in 1970 and 1980. He played significant roles as editor of Technometrics and in helping establish the Fall Technical Conference as a premiere meeting of practicing statisticians, scientists, and engineers.
(excerpted from the Winter, 1995-1996,Newsletter)

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1996 William G. Hunter Award Recipient: Douglas C. Montgomery

The 1996 William G. Hunter Award was presented to Douglas C. Montgomery at the Fall Technical Conference (FTC) in Scottsdale, AZ. The ASQ Statistics Division established the Hunter Award in memory of the Division's founding chair. The purpose of the award is to promote, encourage, and acknowledge outstanding accomplishments during a career in the broad field of applied statistics. Doug Montgomery follows Bill Hunter's model of statistical leadership as a communicator, consultant, educator and innovator, with the ability to integrate statistical thinking into many disciplines.

Doug Montgomery is Professor of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering at Arizona State University. Doug has previously held positions at the University of Washington in Seattle, at Georgia Tech, and at Virginia Tech, where he also received his Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate degrees. Doug's industrial experience includes past assignments with Union Carbide and Eli Lilly, and he has extensive consulting experience with many national and international organizations. Doug has written eleven books and over ninety referred papers in the area of design of experiments, linear models, time series analysis, process control, and operations research. He has directed 20 Doctoral and 35 Masters theses in applied statistics and quality and reliability engineering. He has received the Ellis R. Ott Award, the Shewell Award, and the Brumbaugh Award. Doug is a Fellow of ASQ, the American Statistical Association, and the Institute of Industrial Engineers. He is a Past Chair of the ASQ Statistics Division. Doug is currently the editor of the Journal of Quality Technology.chemistry - Department of Chemistry, Widener University, Chester, Pennsylvania.

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