Lincoln, Neb. —Walter W. Stroup, emeritus professor in the Department of Statistics at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, was the recipient of the 2024 W. J. Dixon Award for Excellence in Statistical Consulting presented by the American Statistical Association.
Stroup has demonstrated excellence in statistical consulting throughout his career, with his accomplishments benefiting both the statistical community and a diverse set of scientific fields. The award recognizes his dedication to statistical consulting and interdisciplinary collaborations, his excellence in developing new tools for statistical practice, his contributions to training the next-generation of statistical consultants, and his commitment to help his colleagues.
Among Stroup’s life-long professional accomplishments in the field of statistical consulting that contributed to his award are a series of books on linear, mixed and generalized models that are widely used today; collaboration with SAS software developers; work with the American Statistical Association to train current and future statistical consultants; development of numerous courses; and a wide array of interdisciplinary collaborations in fields including agriculture, horticulture, soil science, entomology, veterinary medicine, food science and much more.
In addition, Stroup had a crucial role in developing statistical methods for shelf life estimation for the Stability Shelf Life Working Group that is an academia, government and industry partnership sponsored by the Product Quality Research Institute. Stroup also played a key role in the Nebraska Math project, a $10M NSF initiative in psychology and educational research. The project aimed to improve middle school math teacher training by implementing innovative curricula. Stroup, serving as a statistical consultant and a co-principal investigator, applied design and analysis techniques to access the program’s effectiveness, working closely with education partners.
Stroup’s demonstrated excellence, commitment to the advancements of statistical consulting and collaborative research, significant and long lasting-impact on students and colleagues, inspiring attitude still continues as he contributes to UNL’s Statistical Cross-disciplinary Collaboration and Consulting Lab (SC3L)’ mission of providing assistance to students, faculty and staff in their statistical analyses and developing the next generation of statistical consultants at UNL.