C.F. Jeff Wu

The 2005 Jerome Sacks Award for Cross-Disciplinary Research is given by NISS to C.F. Jeff Wu, Coca Cola Chair in Engineering Statistics and Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The award certificate cites Wu for "outstanding statistical contributions to the design of experiments and quality improvement, and for bringing sound statistical ideas and applications to the engineering sciences".

On hearing of this honor, Dr. Wu wrote, "This is indeed a great honor for me and a tribute to Jerry Sacks for his life-long contributions to statistical research and the profession. Jerry has been a part of my career in several ways. He and I both share the late Jack Kiefer as our mentor — Jerry was Jack's student and Jack's 10-week visit to Berkeley inspired my early research on design. Jerry's fundamental work with Don Ylvisacker on computer experiments has influenced my recent work in this emerging and important field. Lastly, as an early member of the Board, I witnessed the founding of NISS. Under Sacks and Karr's leadership, the Institute has grown to be a major player in the statistics profession and has left an indelible mark on many researchers.

"I sincerely hope that the establishment of the Jerry Sacks Award will encourage young researchers to devote their best efforts to cross-disciplinary research. My advice is to choose to work on problems that interest you and can make a potential impact. Remember that fashion and fads may lead to short-term gains but are only temporal. Substance is permanent."

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