Jane F. Gentleman

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Jane Forer Gentleman
Born
Jane Forer

1940 (1940)
Died2023 (aged 82–83)
CitizenshipAmerican, Canadian
OccupationStatistician
Years active1962–2015
Known forhealth surveys
ParentJoseph Forer
AwardsJanet L. Norwood Award, University of Waterloo Faculty of Math Alumni Achievement Medal
Academic background
EducationUniversity of Waterloo
University of Chicago
ThesisA Statistical Analysis of Mortality Data for Smokers and Nonsmokers, and for Males and Females (1973)
Doctoral advisorWilliam F. Forbes
Academic work
InstitutionsBell Laboratories, University of Waterloo, Statistics Canada, National Center for Health Statistics

Jane Forer Gentleman (1940 – February 7, 2023) was an American-Canadian statistician, the second female president (after Agnes M. Herzberg) of the Statistical Society of Canada, and the first winner of the Janet L. Norwood Award For Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In The Statistical Sciences.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Background[edit]

Gentleman studied and then taught at the University of Waterloo (here, the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre)

Jane F. Gentleman was born Jane Forer in 1940 in Washington, DC. She was the daughter of Joseph Forer, an American attorney known for his progressive stances on segregation and political discrimination, and Florence Roberts, a public school teacher and viola player.[3][9] She received a BA in Mathematics (1962) and MS in Statistics (1965) from the University of Chicago.[10] In 1973, she completed a doctorate in statistics at the University of Waterloo.[1][4][7][11][12][13] Her dissertation was A Statistical Analysis of Mortality Data for Smokers and Nonsmokers, and for Males and Females.[14]

Career[edit]

In the mid-1960s, Gentleman worked at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey.

In 1962, Gentleman started her career as a statistical programmer at the University of Chicago's Economics department and School of Business. In 1965, she conducted research as an associate member of technical staff at Bell Laboratories (AT&T) in Murray Hill, New Jersey through 1968. In 1968, she worked for a year as a statistical programmer in the Department of Mathematics at the Imperial College in London.[3]

From 1969 to 1984, Gentleman moved to the Department of Statistics at the University of Waterloo, where she taught statistics and became a tenured Associate Professor. In 1982, she became a senior research statistician for Statistics Canada, which provides the national government with social and economic statistics. In 1991, she became chief of the Health Status and Vital Statistics section and also, starting in 1996, editor-in-chief of Health Reports. In 1997, she became assistant director of Analytic Methods through 1999.[1][3][4][7][8][15]

In 1999, Gentleman moved to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Hyattsville, Maryland, where she served as director of Health Interview Statistics until her retirement in 2014.[1][2][3][4][8][16]

From 1983 to 1985, Gentleman served as president of the Caucus for Women in Statistics. From 1988 to 1990, she served as vice president of the American Statistical Association. From 1993-1995, she served as council member of the International Statistical Institute. From 1996 to 1998, she served as president of the Statistical Society of Canada. From 2002 to 2004, she served again as vice president of the American Statistical Association.[3][4][7][8][15]

In addition, Gentleman served as associate editor and a section editor for The American Statistician, editorial board member and a section co-editor for The Canadian Journal of Statistics, editorial board member for Survey Methodology, and editor-in-chief of Health Reports.[3][7]

Gentleman had a cross-appointment with the University of Waterloo’s Department of Computer Science (1973-1977), served as a statistical consultant for the Ontario Ministry of Labour (1979-1983), and was a visiting associate professor at Stanford University's Department of Statistics (summer 1981).[citation needed]

Awards[edit]

In 2002, Gentleman received the first-ever "Janet L. Norwood Award For Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Statistical Sciences."[1]

Personal[edit]

In 1959, Jane Forer married Bernard Munk;[20] they had one child. In 1967, she married W. Morven Gentleman;[21][22] they had one child.[9]

Mary E. Thompson (later, also president of the Statistical Society of Canada) has called Gentleman "a fine role model and mentor."[2]

She died in February 2023 following a lengthy battle with cancer. [23]

Works[edit]

Gentleman wrote or contributed to more than 180 articles, edited a book, and contributed to five other books, as well as reviewed many works. Selected works include:

Doctoral Thesis:

  • A Statistical Analysis of Mortality Data for Smokers and Nonsmokers and for Males and Females (1973)[24]

Books edited:

  • Case Studies in Data Analysis (1994)[25]

Books and Special Issues edited or contributed to:

  • Proceedings of Computer Science and Statistics, 12th Annual Symposium on the Interface (1979)[26]
  • A Special Issue of Papers Presenting Current Statistical Work at Statistics Canada (1988)[27]
  • The Oxford Dictionary of Statistical Terms, Sixth Edition (2003)[28]
  • Statistical Journal of the International Association for Official Statistics, Volume 28, Numbers 1-2 (2012)[29]
  • Proceedings of the National Center for Health Statistics (June 25, 2007 conference commemorating the National Health Interview Survey’s 50th anniversary) (2008, 2015)

Articles written or contributed to:

  • "Detecting Outliers: II. Supplementing the Direct Analysis of Residuals," Biometrics (1975)[30]
  • "The Distribution of the Frequency of Occurrence of Nucleotide Subsequences, Based on Their Overlap Capability," Biometrics (1989)[31]
  • "Estimation of the Mutagenic Potency of Environmental Chemicals Using Short-Term Bioassay. Case Study in Data Analysis, No. 8," Canadian Journal of Statistics (1993)[32]
    • (winner of 1993 Canadian Journal of Statistics Award[33])
  • "Age Differences in Married and Divorcing Couples in Canada," Health Reports (1994)[34]
  • "Surgical Rates in Subprovincial Areas Across Canada: Rankings of 39 Procedures in Order of Variation," Canadian Journal of Surgery (1996)[35]
  • "On Judging the Significance of Differences by Examining the Overlap Between Confidence Intervals," The American Statistician (2001)[36]
  • "The National Health Interview Survey: 50 Years and Going Strong," Chance (2008)[37]
  • Editorial on Reshaping Health Statistics, Statistical Journal of the International Association for Official Statistics (2012)[38]
  • "Addressing Disclosure Concerns and Analysis Demands in a Real-Time Online Analytic System," Journal of Official Statistics (2013)[39]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e First Annual Janet L. Norwood Award, University of Alabama School of Public Health, 2002, retrieved 2017-11-27
  2. ^ a b c Thompson, Mary E. (2014), "Reflections on women in statistics in Canada", in Lin, Xihong; Genest, Christian; Banks, David L.; Molenberghs, Geert; Scott, David W.; Wang, Jane-Ling (eds.), Past, Present, and Future of Statistical Science, CRC Press, pp. 203–216, ISBN 9781482204988
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 2004-2005 Calendar, Caucus for Women in Statistics, 2004
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "Jane Gentleman, PhD'73 Statistics". Alumni News. University of Waterloo. 2005.
  5. ^ "Gentleman, Jane Forer". American Men & Women of Science. Bowker: 81. 1982. ISBN 9781414433035. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Gentleman, Jane Forer". American Men & Women of Science. Thomson/Gale: 83. 2009. ISBN 9781414433035. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  7. ^ a b c d e "NCHS Appoints New Leaders for National Health Surveys". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 17 November 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Jane Gentleman Receives the Janet L. Norwood Award / Jane Gentleman reçoit le prix Janet L. Norwood" (PDF). SSC Liaison. 17 (1). Statistical Society of Canada: 33. February 2003. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  9. ^ a b "Florence Forer", Paid death notices, The Washington Post, March 29, 2005, retrieved 2017-11-27
  10. ^ "Jane Gentleman, PhD'73 Statistics". The University of Chicago Magazine. 80. University of Chicago Alumni Association: 58. 2005. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  11. ^ "Doctorates". Bulletin of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. University of Waterloo: 16. 1974. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  12. ^ "Doctorates". Bulletin of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. University of Waterloo: 16. 1975. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  13. ^ "Department of Statistics". Notices of the American Mathematical Society. American Mathematical Society: 307. 1974. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Ph.D.'s in Probability and Statistics Awarded by Universities in Canada: 1973–1977", The Canadian Journal of Statistics, 5 (2): 259–262, 1977, JSTOR 3314786
  15. ^ a b c "Statistics Canada Well Represented in American Statistical Association". SCAN. Statistics Canada: 2. October 1987.
  16. ^ "Early Release Program Races to Publish Timely Survey Results". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 20 November 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  17. ^ ASA Fellows list, American Statistical Association, archived from the original on 2017-12-01, retrieved 2017-11-27
  18. ^ "Janet L. Norwood Award". University of Alabama at Birmingham. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  19. ^ "Call for Nominations the Eighteenth Annual Janet L. Norwood Award". University of Alabama at Birmingham. 2019. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  20. ^ "Bernard Munk". Foreign Policy Research Institute. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  21. ^ "In Memoriam ‑ Dr. W. Morven Gentleman". Faculty of Computer Science News. Dalhousie University. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  22. ^ "W. Morven Gentleman '66". Princeton Alumni Weekly. Princeton University. December 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  23. ^ "Jane F. Gentleman", The Washington Post, February 12, 2023, retrieved 2023-04-24
  24. ^ Gentleman, J.F. (1973). A Statistical Analysis of Mortality Data for Smokers and Nonsmokers and for Males and Females. University of Waterloo.
  25. ^ Jane F. Gentleman; G.A. Whitmore, eds. (1994). Case Studies in Data Analysis. Springer-Verlag. ISBN 9781461226888. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  26. ^ Jane F. Gentleman, ed. (1979). Proceedings of Computer Science and Statistics. University of Waterloo. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  27. ^ A Special Issue of Papers Presenting Current Statistical Work at Statistics Canada. The Canadian Journal of Statistics. August 1988. JSTOR i274506.
  28. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of Statistical Terms. Oxford University Press. 2006. ISBN 9780199206131. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  29. ^ Statistical Journal of the IAOS. STM Publishing House. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  30. ^ Gentleman, J.F.; Wilk, M.B. (1975). "Detecting Outliers: II. Supplementing the Direct Analysis of Residuals". Biometrics. 31 (2): 387–410. doi:10.2307/2529428. JSTOR 2529428.
  31. ^ Gentleman, Jane F.; Mullin, Ronald C (1989). "The Distribution of the Frequency of Occurrence of Nucleotide Subsequences, Based on Their Overlap Capability". Biometrics. 45 (1): 35–52. doi:10.2307/2532033. JSTOR 2532033. PMID 2720059.
  32. ^ Gentleman, Jane F.; Whitmore, G.A. (1993). "Estimation of the Mutagenic Potency of Environmental Chemicals Using Short-Term Bioassay. Case Study in Data Analysis, No. 8". Canadian Journal of Statistics. 21: 421–465. doi:10.2307/3315706. JSTOR 3315706.
  33. ^ "Jane F. Gentleman and G. A. Whitmore, The Canadian Journal of Statistics Award 1994". Statistical Society of Canada / La Société statistique du Canada. 1994. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  34. ^ Gentleman, Jane F.; Park, Evelyn (1994). "Age Differences in Married and Divorcing Couples in Canada". Health Reports. 6 (2): 225–240.
  35. ^ Gentleman, Jane F.; Vayda, Eugene; Parsons, Greg F.; Walsh, Michael N. (1996). "Surgical Rates in Subprovincial Areas Across Canada: Rankings of 39 Procedures in Order of Variation". Canadian Journal of Surgery. 39 (5): 361–367. PMC 3949954. PMID 8857982.
  36. ^ Schenker, Nathaniel; Gentleman, Jane F. (2001). "On Judging the Significance of Differences by Examining the Overlap Between Confidence Intervals". The American Statistician. 55 (3): 182–186. doi:10.1198/000313001317097960. S2CID 121960213.
  37. ^ Gentleman, Jane F. (2008). "The National Health Interview Survey: 50 Years and Going Strong". Chance. 21 (2). Springer and American Statistical Association: 40–45. doi:10.1007/s00144-008-0022-6. S2CID 196355619.
  38. ^ Gentleman, Jane F. (2012). "Editorial on Reshaping Health Statistics". Statistical Journal of the International Association for Official Statistics. 28 (1–2). International Statistical Institute.
  39. ^ Krenzke, Tom; Gentleman, Jane F.; Li, Jane; Moriarity, Chris (2013). "Addressing Disclosure Concerns and Analysis Demands in a Real-Time Online Analytic System". Journal of Official Statistics. 29 (1): 99–124. doi:10.2478/jos-2013-0006.

External links[edit]

  • CDC: search on "Jane F. Gentleman"