The Life of George C. Tiao:
The Graceful Path to Wisdom
9/23/05
Lou Fogg
Professor Tiao has spent his life addressing some of the knottiest problems of statistics with solutions that are both useful and elegant. He is currently the W. Allen Wallis Professor of Econometrics and Statistics at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago. Over his long and distinguished career, Professor Tiao has been a faculty member, first at University of Wisconsin, and later at the University of Chicago for more than 40 years. He has served as the chairman of the statistics department at Wisconsin, he has edited several scholarly journals and helped to found one relatively new one (Statistica Sinica). He has served as a consultant to both governmental agencies and businesses.
Among his several books, Professor Tiao has written a classic statistics text that is still widely read today (Bayesian Inference in Statistical Analysis with G. E. P. Box). He has published scores of influential articles over the last 40 years. He introduced some of the seminal ideas still used in the analysis of time series data. He has written extensively in the area of Bayesian statistics, seasonal adjustment, forecasting models and statistical modeling of environmental phenomena, particularly the concentration of ozone in the atmosphere.
Professor Tiao's work on time series includes his development of intervention models designed to help model and estimate the effects of policy changes. These methods can be equally used on correlated economic time series or on meteorological data. He has also developed methods for principle components analyses of multiple time series. His long running research on atmospheric data, such as that on ozone levels in the upper atmosphere, has played an important role in increasing our understanding of the role of human economic activity in such processes, and been influential in the planning by government agencies. His work there is currently being carried out with support from EPA as part of the activities of the University of Chicago's Center for Integrating Statistical and Environmental Science (CISES).
Despite this lifetime of exemplary achievement, Professor Tiao remains one of the warmest, friendliest and most engaging gentlemen of my acquaintance. He is currently emeritus at the University of Chicago, but continues to work with an energy and zest for life that belies his maturity and station. He remains one of the most enthusiastic and creative researchers in the world. There is no question that Professor Tiao is a great scholar and a fine human being. The Chicago Chapter is proud to be able to honor such a man.