Author Biographies

Ann E. Watkins is a professor of mathematics at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). She received her Ph.D. in education from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a former president of the Mathematical Association of America and a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. Dr. Watkins has served as co-editor of the College Mathematics Journal, as a member of the Board of Editors of the American Mathematical Monthly, and as Chair of the Advanced Placement Statistics Development Committee. She was selected as the 1994–1995 CSUN Outstanding Professor and won the 1997 CSUN Award for the Advancement of Teaching Effectiveness. Before moving to CSUN in 1990, she taught for the Los Angeles Unified School District and at Pierce College in Los Angeles. In addition to numerous journal articles, she is the co-author of books based on work produced by the Activity-Based Statistics Project, the Quantitative Literacy Project, and the Core-Plus Mathematics Project.

Richard Scheaffer is Professor Emeritus of Statistics at the University of Florida. He received his Ph.D. in statistics from Florida State University. He then joined the faculty of the University of Florida and served as chairman of the Department of Statistics for 12 years. Dr. Scheaffer’s research interests are in the areas of sampling and applied probability, especially in their applications to industrial processes. He has published numerous papers and is co-author of four college-level textbooks, including Activity-Based Statistics. In recent years, much of his effort has been directed toward statistics education throughout the school and college curriculum. He was one of the developers of the Quantitative Literacy Project in the United States. As a developer on this project, Dr. Scheaffer helped form the basis of the data analysis emphasis in mathematics curriculum standards recommended by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Dr. Scheaffer also directed the task force that developed the Advanced Placement Statistics Program and served as its first Chief Faculty Consultant. He continues to work on educational projects at the elementary, secondary, and college levels. Dr. Scheaffer is a Fellow and past president of the American Statistical Association, from whom he received a Founders Award.

George Cobb is the Robert L. Rooke Professor of Statistics at Mt. Holyoke College, where he served a three-year term as Dean of Studies. He received his Ph.D. in statistics from Harvard University. In addition to his fundamental contributions to the emerging science of confectionery ballistics (the statistics of firing gummy bears from a launcher), he is an expert in statistics education with a significant publication record in this field. He chaired the joint committee on undergraduate statistics of the Mathematical Association of America and the American Statistical Association. He also led the STATS project of the Mathematical Association of America, which helped professors of mathematics learn to teach statistics. He is the author of Introduction to Design and Analysis of Experiments. Dr. Cobb served on the National Research Council’s Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics. Over the past two decades, he has frequently served as an expert witness in lawsuits involving alleged employment discrimination. Dr. Cobb is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.