Statistical Science 2007, Vol. 22, No. 3, 450–475 DOI: 10.1214/088342307000000122 c Institute of Mathematical Statistics, 2007 A Conversation with Ingram Olkin Allan R. Sampson Abstract. Ingram Olkin was born on July 23, 1924 in Waterbury, Connecticut. His family moved to New York in 1934 and he graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1941. He served three years in the Air Force during World War II and obtained a B.S. in mathematics at the City College of New York in 1947. After receiving an M.A. in mathematical statistics from Columbia in 1949, he completed his graduate studies in the Department of Statistics at the University of North Carolina in 1951. His dissertation was written under the direction of S. N. Roy and Harold Hotelling. He joined the Department of Mathematics at Michigan State University in 1951 as an Assistant Professor, subsequently being promoted to Professor. In 1960, he took a position as Chair of the Department of Statistics at the University of Minnesota. He moved to Stanford University in 1961 to take a joint position as Professor of Statistics and Professor of Education; he was also Chair of the Department of Statistics from 1973–1976. In 2007, Ingram became Professor Emeritus. Ingram was Editor of the Annals of Mathematical Statistics (1971–1972) and served as the first editor of the Annals of Statistics from 1972–1974. He was a primary force in the founding of the Journal of Educational Statistics, for which he was also Associate Editor during 1977–1985. In 1984, he was President of the Institute of Mathemati- cal Statistics. Among his many professional activities, he has served as Chair of the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS), Chair of the Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics of the National Research Council, Chair of the Management Board of the American Education Research Association, and as Trustee for the National Institute of Statistical Sciences. He has been honored by the American Statistical Association (ASA) with a Wilks Medal (1992) and a Founder’s Award (1992). The American Psychological Association gave him a Lifetime Contribution Award (1997) and he was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2005. He received the COPSS Elizabeth L. Scott Award in 1998 and delivered the R. A. Fisher Lecture in 2000. In 2003, the City University of New York gave him a Townsend Harris Medal. An author of 5 books, an editor of 10 books, and an author of more than 200 publi- arXiv:0802.0557v1 [stat.ME] 5 Feb 2008 cations, Ingram has made major contributions to statistics and education. His research has focused on multivariate analysis, majorization and inequalities, distribution theory, and meta-analysis. A volume in celebration of Ingram’s 65th birthday contains a brief biography and an interview [Gleser, Perlman, Press and Sampson (1989)]. Ingram was chosen in 1997 to participate in the American Statistical Association Distinguished Statistician Video Series and a videotaped conversation and a lecture (Olkin, 1997) are available from the ASA (1997, DS041, DS042). Key words and phrases: Educational statistics, majorization, meta-analysis, multi- variate analysis, probability inequalities. Allan R. Sampson is Professor, Department of This is an electronic reprint of the original article Statistics, Cathedral of Learning 2701, University of published by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA Statistical Science, 2007, Vol. 22, No. 3, 450–475. This e-mail: [email protected]. reprint differs from the original in pagination and typographic detail. 1 2 A. R. SAMPSON This conversation took place on December 9, 2005 of time. So, I think I was a very active kid at that at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC. time. Sampson: It sounds more than active, but perhaps INTRODUCTION AND EARLY YEARS rebellious. Olkin: I don’t know. But I do know, and I can’t Sampson: Ingram, we’ve been trying to get to- tell you what grade, the teacher taped my mouth. gether to do this conversation for quite a while. Sampson: Some of your colleagues now, I suspect, It’s difficult to find any gap in your extremely hec- wish they knew that teacher’s secret! tic travel schedule. You’re perhaps more involved in [Laughter] statistics now than you were when you began your Olkin: Now, of course, this was abuse under cur- career 55 years ago. And the question I want to start rent definitions. But, it didn’t bother me at the time. with is: what is it about statistics that’s still so com- I think I’ve always been active and interested in dif- pelling to you? ferent things. I think that certainly is a characteris- Olkin: That’s an interesting question. Statistics tic. has a role in so many different applications, and Sampson: Did you have a lot of interests as a what I always find exciting is the fact that you’re child? confronted with a new discipline and a new set of Olkin: Yes I did. And I think I was sort of good people, and they bring different and interesting sci- in a lot of different areas and so I was interested in entific questions in which the statistician can partic- sports, I collected stamps, I went to theaters, music, ipate. Just to illustrate, I was most recently asked to and so on. I really availed myself. discuss some aspects of what is called “the value of Sampson: Some of that sounds like it occurred a statistical life” with the Environmental Protection when you were older. Agency. This is a fascinating problem because it cov- Olkin: Theater and music occurred during my early ers very large areas of the environment, and what’s teens after I moved to New York. There were not interesting is the people working on the projects are that many outside interests available in Waterbury, economists, not statisticians, so it brings me into Connecticut. The only place that was available was contact with a whole new area. a library, and my mother took me to the library on Sampson: You’ve been involved with these various many, many occasions. It was a ritual. That’s an forms of applied problems for a long time. But what interesting point because my mother was an immi- keeps you still so fired-up? grant who really didn’t have much education. Olkin: This question about the “fire” is one I have Sampson: Where was your mother from? trouble answering. Olkin: My mother came from Warsaw, my father Sampson: It may precede your beginnings in statis- came from Vilnius, but he was in Warsaw at the tics—perhaps something in your upbringing. time, and so they both came over. But my mother Olkin: I suspect that’s true. My mother had fire knew that books were good. She dragged me to the until she was 98. library, but she didn’t have to drag very much. It Sampson: Amen! was just nice to go there every Saturday morning. Olkin: The “fire” was mostly addressed to me. By the time I got to New York, I was independent— And I think there may be some genetics because even though I was only 10 years old. The thing about my daughters have a certain amount of that trans- New York is that children were totally independent. mitted. Sampson: You lived in the Bronx? Sampson: When you were a child, were you as in- Olkin: I lived in the Bronx on Arthur Avenue and tense and as passionate in whatever you were doing 179th Street. then as you are now? Sampson: You finished elementary school in New Olkin: Let me put it this way. I was born in Wa- York City? terbury, Connecticut and I lived there until age 10. Olkin: I finished elementary school in New York I went to a public school that had very little heat, City and then went to middle school followed by and when you misbehaved they sent you to sit in the Dewitt Clinton High School. That was a very good cloakroom, which was cold. What I can tell you is high school at the time. Dewitt Clinton had an an- my mother was a constant visitor to the school be- nex and it was that annex which became the Bronx cause I was in the cloakroom an inordinate amount High School of Science. They had superior teachers. A CONVERSATION WITH INGRAM OLKIN 3 child, my father actually was out of work for quite a bit of time though my mother didn’t know it. He never told her, and somehow we managed. But it was clear that Waterbury was somewhat of a dead- end in the jewelry business, which is one of the first to go during any depression in any case. But there was a second factor of why we moved to New York. By this time, I was getting close to 10 years old, and the question was what would the future bring in terms of college? Connecticut was not known at that time—we’re talking about the 30s—for lots of good state universities. And, in fact, I had a cousin who was teaching at City College of New York, and the general view was that City College was the place where I could get an education. We moved to New York in 1934, and it was clear that I would go to City College because that was the only place open in the immediate post-depression era. NEW YORK Sampson: Did your father eventually find jewelry work in New York? Olkin: Yes. In the jewelry trade, they’ll have one big store with little stalls.