Michael Woodroofe
Woodroofe lecturing in 2002
Born
Michael Barrett Woodroofe

(1940-03-17)March 17, 1940
Corvalis, Oregon, U.S.
DiedFebruary 22, 2022(2022-02-22) (aged 81)
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
Scientific career
FieldsStatistics, Mathematics
InstitutionsUniversity of Michigan
ThesisStatistical Properties of the Number of Positive Sums (1965)
Doctoral advisorTheodore Matthes
Doctoral students
Websitedept.stat.lsa.umich.edu/~michaelw/

Michael Barrett Woodroofe (March 17, 1940 – February 22, 2022) was an American probabilist and statistician. He was a professor of statistics and of mathematics at the University of Michigan, where he was the Leonard J. Savage Professor until his retirement. He was noted for his work in sequential analysis and nonlinear renewal theory, in central limit theory, and in nonparametric inference with shape constraints.

Education and career

Woodroofe was born in Corvalis, Oregon, and grew up in nearby Athena, Oregon.[1] He received his Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Stanford University in 1962. He went on to the University of Oregon for his masters and PhD in mathematics, which he completed in 1965.[1][2][3]

After his PhD, he spent a brief stint as an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University, before moving to the University of Michigan in 1968. He spent the rest of his career at Michigan, where he was a founding member of the statistics department. In 1994 he was named the Leonard J. Savage Professor, a position which he held until his retirement in 2009.[2]

Woodroofe was particularly noted for his work in sequential analysis and nonlinear renewal theory, in central limit theory, and in nonparametric inference with shape constraints.[1]

Woodroofe advised over 40 graduate students,[1][3][4] many of whom have gone on to distinguished careers of their own. He published over 100 research articles, and 2 books. He served as editor of the Annals of Statistics from 1992 to 1994, and was the last solo editor of the journal.[1]

Personal life

Woodroofe died on February 22, 2022, at the age of 81.[5][6]

Awards and honors

  • The Michael Woodroofe Lecture Series was established in 2008 by the University of Michigan Department of Statistics in recognition of Woodroofe's contributions.[2]
  • A Conference on Nonparametric Inference and Probability with Applications to Science was held in 2005 to honor Woodroofe's career on the occasion of his 65th birthday.[7][8]
  • Woodroofe was a fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.[1][9]

Selected publications

  • Woodroofe, Michael (1974). Probability with applications. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070717184. MR 0372930.[10]
  • Woodroofe, Michael (1982). Nonlinear renewal theory in sequential analysis. Philadelphia, Pa: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. ISBN 0-89871-180-0. MR 0660065.[11]
  • Woodroofe, Michael (1985). "Estimating a Distribution Function with Truncated Data". The Annals of Statistics. 13 (1): 163–177. doi:10.1214/aos/1176346584. ISSN 0090-5364. MR 0773160.
  • Woodroofe, Michael; Maxwell, Michael (2000). "Central limit theorems for additive functionals of Markov chains". The Annals of Probability. 28 (2): 713–724. doi:10.1214/aop/1019160258. ISSN 0091-1798. MR 1782272.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Banerjee, Moulinath; Sen, Bodhisattva (2016). "A conversation with Michael Woodroofe". Statist. Sci. 31 (3): 433–441. doi:10.1214/15-STS545. MR 3552743.
  2. 1 2 3 "Michael Woodroofe Lecture Series". University of Michigan Statistics Department. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  3. 1 2 "Michael Woodroofe's Curriculum Vita (dated 2006)" (PDF). Michael Woodroofe's home page. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  4. ↑ Michael Barrett Woodroofe at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  5. ↑ "Remembering Michael Woodroofe". Department of Statistics. University of Michigan. March 1, 2022. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
  6. ↑ "Michael_Woodroofe_Formal_Obituary.pdf" (PDF). University of Michigan. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  7. ↑ "More IMS Meetings Around The World" (PDF). IMS Bulletin. Vol. 34, no. 7. Institute of Mathematical Statistics. p. 22.
  8. ↑ Sun, Jiayang; DasGupta, Anirban; Melfi, Vince; Page, Connie, eds. (2006). Recent developments in nonparametric inference and probability. Institute of Mathematical Statistics Lecture Notes - Monograph Series. Vol. 50. Institute of Mathematical Statistics. MR 2404082. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  9. ↑ "Honored IMS Fellows". Institute of Mathematical Statistics webpage. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  10. ↑ Reviews of Probability with Applications:
    • Davis, William (1976). Journal of the American Statistical Association. 71 (355): 775. doi:10.2307/2285634. JSTOR 2285634.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Loynes, R. M. (1976). Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A. 139 (2): 267–268. doi:10.2307/2345183. JSTOR 2345183.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
  11. ↑ Reviews of Nonlinear Renewal Theory in Sequential Analysis:
    • Anbar, Dan (1983). American Journal of Mathematical and Management Sciences. 3 (4): 347–349. doi:10.1080/01966324.1983.10737131.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Wijsman, Robert A. (1983). Journal of the American Statistical Association. 78 (382): 501. doi:10.2307/2288678. JSTOR 2288678.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
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