【Title】The Interplay between Statistical Practice and Academic Research

【Speaker】William A. Brenneman, Research Fellow, Quantitative Sciences, Procter & Gamble Company

【Host】Dr. Kaibo Wang

【Time】February 22, 2017, 10:30–11:30

【Location】Room N512, Shunde Building

【Abstract】There has always been a connection between academics and industry in that most industrial statisticians go through formal statistical training at the undergraduate or graduate level prior to practicing statistics. In the statistics field, there is a strong symbiotic relationship between academics and industry and I will discuss that relationship primarily from the perspective of one who has taken the traditional route, academics to industry, and discuss the lessons learned on how to foster, grow and bridge the gap between statistical practice and academic research. Several problems encountered at P&G that led to academic research projects will be highlighted.

【Brief bio】Dr. William Brenneman is a Research Fellow at Procter & Gamble in the Quantitative Sciences Department and an Adjunct Professor at Georgia Tech in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department. Since joining P&G in 2000, he has worked on a wide range of projects that deal with statistics applications in his areas of expertise: design and analysis of experiments, robust parameter design, reliability engineering, statistical process control, computer experiments, data science and general statistical thinking. He was also instrumental in the development of an in-house statistics curriculum.

He received a Ph.D. degree in Statistics from the University of Michigan, an MS in Mathematics from the University of Iowa and a BA in Mathematics and Secondary Education from Tabor College. William is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA), a Fellow of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and a member of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences. He has served as ASQ Statistics Division Chair and is currently the Past-Chair for the Quality and Productivity Section of ASA and an Associate Editor of Technometrics. William also has seven years of experience as an educator at the high school and college level.