Ellis R. Ott ScholarshipFor Applied Statistics and Quality Management

Application Instructions

Selection Criteria

The scholarship recipient must be a student who is planning to enroll or is currently enrolled in a master’s degree or higher level US or Canadian program that has a concentration in applied statistics and/or quality management. This includes the theory and application of statistical inference, statistical decision-making, experimental design, analysis and interpretation of data, statistical process control, quality control, quality assurance, quality improvement, quality management and related fields. The emphasis is on applications as opposed to theory.

Students enrolled in online programs are not eligible.

Scholarship awards are based on (a) demonstrated ability, (b) academic achievement, including honors, (c) career objectives, (d) faculty recommendations, (e) student involvement in campus activities, including teaching and tutoring, and (f) industrial exposure including part-time work and internships.

The Ott Scholarship Governing Board awards up to two scholarships annually to students pursing either a master’s degree as their next academic goal or a doctorate degree. Relatives of the Governing Board and of the ASQ Statistics Division Council members are ineligible as are previous winners of the award.

Material* to be sent no later than April 1 Typed application form – no handwritten forms, please. Resume An essay of no longer than one page, type written, no smaller than 10-point type,

stating qualifications, career goals, reasons for seeking the scholarship. Comments should be consistent with the scholarship award criteria, above.

Two letters of recommendation from professors in the current or intended field of study.

* Send via email only to lynne.hare@comcast.net.

Ellis R. Ott ScholarshipFor Applied Statistics and Quality Management

Application Instructions (continued)

Suggestions for professors who write letters of recommendation

The Ott Scholarship Governing Board relies heavily on your recommendations while judging applications. It is important that the Board be persuaded by your comments that the student is truly qualified. Our past winners are those who have had the strongest letters of recommendation from their faculty mentors.

As you will notice from the “Criteria for Selection” section above, the Board is seeking students who are well rounded and who demonstrate great potential for leadership in our discipline. It would be greatly appreciated if you would focus your comments on these aspects of the student’s development. The Board would also like to see your comments regarding academic achievements, especially those regarding innovation and strong insight on the part of the student. Naturally, any additional comments you wish to offer will be appreciated.

Appended to this application form are three papers describing Professor Ott’s philosophy of statistics and statistical education. Letters of recommendation receiving the highest ratings from the Ott Scholarship Governing Board will emphasize key principles outlined in these papers.

Ellis R. Ott ScholarshipFor Applied Statistics and Quality Management

Application Form

Name of Applicant: _______________________________________________________

Address:________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Home phone: ________________________ Office phone: ______________________

Email: __________________________

Last 4 Digits of SSN: _________________ Student Number: ___________________

College or UniversityDegree

AwardedDates

Attended GPA*Honors

Received(Current)

* on a 4.0 equivalent scale

Name and address of college and university where scholarship will be applied, if offered. (Include the address of the financial aid office and the name of the financial aid officer responsible for your account.)____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ellis R. Ott ScholarshipFor Applied Statistics and Quality Management

Application Form (continued)

Supporting letters included in this application are written by:

Title and Name: __________________________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________________________

Phone: _____________________________ Email: ______________________________

Title and Name: __________________________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________________________

Phone: _____________________________ Email: ______________________________

Check here if the next degree for which you are applying is a master’s degree.

Check here if the next degree for which you are applying is a doctorate degree.

By April 1, email this form complete with your resume, and your essay to lynnehare@verizon.net. Students should follow up with their faculty members to assure that letters of recommendation are emailed to the same address by the April 1 deadline.

Transcripts should be sent via the regular mail to:

Dr. Lynne B. Hare55 Buckskin PathPlymouth, MA 02360

(774) 413-5268

Notices will be issued on or about August 1.

Ellis R. Ott ScholarshipFor Applied Statistics and Quality Management

Students please note:

The attached pages are not to be submitted with your application.

They are for your information regarding the nature of the scholarship and the statistical education philosophy of Professor Ellis R. Ott. We highly recommend that you review them carefully to assure that your essay and accompanying information are consistent with the Ott philosophy.

In addition, please make certain that the mentors you choose to write letters of recommendation on your behalf have access to this material. It will help them understand points needing emphasis.

Ellis R. Ott ScholarshipFor Applied Statistics and Quality Management

Ellis R. Ott ScholarshipFor Applied Statistics and Quality Management

Ellis R. Ott ScholarshipFor Applied Statistics and Quality Management

Ellis Ott: Prince of Quality

by J. Stuart Hunter

The word “Quality” in the title of this short paper recognizes Ellis Ott (1906 - 1981) as a quality educator and as a quality technology leader. The Quality profession is doubly in his debt. It is good occasionally to acknowledge his contributions and to remember a remarkable personality.

First some history. In 1946, sensitive to the educational needs of returning WWII veterans, Rutgers University formed a “University College”. One objective was to provide undergraduate courses that could be taken late in the day or early evening to accommodate returning veteran-working students. Bachelor degrees might also be obtained outside of Rutgers’ formal four year programs. The financial grants for education provided by Harry Truman’s “GI Bill of Rights” promised a flood of student veterans. Ellis Ott, (PhD Mathematics, University ofIllinois) and previously a professor at the University of Buffalo became the chairman of the new University College Mathematics Department.

At the time of his appointment Ellis already possessed considerable industrial experience and before accepting the post at Rutgers he announced his intention to inaugurate courses on industrial quality control, a declaration his reluctant peers called “Ott’s Folly. But clearly, following WWII the demands were huge for formal education in the arts of industrial quality control.. Further New Jersey’s industries were a microcosm of the nation’s. As a direct consequence Ellis’ courses at Rutgers on statistics and quality control attracted scores of students and a masters degree in Applied and Mathematical Statistics soon became available. In a less formal environment Ellis also inaugurated (1949) the annual Rutgers’ All Day Conference on Quality Control in Industry. Hundreds (literally) of workers from industry plus students attended these Saturday affairs, one of which (1952) was almost blown out by a hurricane.

In 1952 the Statistics Center within the Graduate School at Rutgers University was formed and Ellis named Professor of Applied and Mathematical Statistics. Mason Wescott, then editor of ASQC’s journal /Industrial Quality Control/ joined the faculty as Professor. In 1958 Harold Dodge, retired from Bell Laboratories and internationally known for his work on acceptance sampling plans, also joined the faculty. A PhD program was approved in 1959 and the first PhD degrees granted in 1963. In 1965 the Center established a consulting intern program to expose students to the practice as well as the theory of statistics By the time of Ellis’ retirement over 340 MS and 35 PhD degrees had been earned each a degree in applied and mathematical statistics. Ellis Ott’s vision and enthusiasm brought both the theory and application of quality control fully into realms of academia. Walter Shewhart has often been called the Father of Quality Control. Ellis Ott is his Prince and professor.

To his students “Plot the data” was Ellis Ott’s most insistent refrain. Formal data analyses are subject to the deleterious influences of outliers, changing variabilities, time dependencies and, to put it simply, strange data. Signals of these phenomena rest in data plots and Ellis insisted his students look before they leaped. His ANOM (Analysis of Means, 1958) procedure is an example of his love of graphics. The ANOM reduces the complexities of the ANOVA for two level factorials experimental designs into familiar and easily interpreted Shewhart chart displays. The acronym KISS is sometimes translated to mean “Keep It Simple Statistician”. In Ellis’ case, it stood for “Keep It Sophisticatedly Simple”.

Ellis Ott died in 1981 and in 1982 the Ellis R. Ott Foundation was established employing funds raised by a series of special conferences and personal contributions. Every year the Ott Foundation, through the offices of the ASQ Statistics Division, offers the Ellis R. Ott Scholarship for Applied Statistics and Quality Management. The $7,500 scholarships are for students currently enrolled in either a MS of PhD program. Interested students should contact lynnehare@verizon.net

On a personal note, I first met Ellis while a graduate student at N. C. State. I spent my summers working for Frank Grubbs at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, and in 1951 Dr. Grubbs sent me to the Rutgers All Day Conference with a special message for Ellis. It was a huge meeting and I eventually was able to find Professor Ott. He

Ellis R. Ott ScholarshipFor Applied Statistics and Quality Management

immediately swept me up into his professional family, introduced me to the movers and shakers of the Quality world and challenged me to come to Rutgers. He simply bowled me over. His cordiality, enthusiasm for the profession and his empathy for me as a student are well remembered. .

I can also lay claim to introducing Horace P. Andrews, a particularly popular member of the Rutgers faculty, to Ellis. I first met Horace Andrews in 1948 when we were both masters candidate students at N.C .State. I was taking a course on experimental design from Miss Gertrude Cox, founder of the Institute of Statistics. Horace was Miss Cox’s homework grader. (I recall he marked papers in green ink.) He later went on to the get his PhD at Penn State and then took employment in Chicago.

Sometime after getting my PhD, Ellis asked if I’d be interested in accompanying him to India to help teach design of experiments courses as part of a United Nations program. I declined, but mentioned that Horace Andrews would be a wonderful candidate. Horace agreed and later became a member of Ellis’ faculty in 1964.

One final recollection. The Statistical Techniques Research Group at Princeton University had just hired a new secretary, a Swedish lady. One morning while I was visiting with George Box in his office she came in quite disturbed. In a heavy Swedish accent she blurted, “I don’t understand, this man wants to speak to you and says he’s hellish hot.” Yes, in so many ways, Ellis Ott was a high energy particle.

I thank a small sample of Ellis’ students: Ron Snee, Lynne Hare, Truman Koehler and Tom Boardman and Professor Joe Naus, Statistics Department Rutgers University, for their help in preparing this paper.

References:

The January 1983 issue of /Journal of Quality Technology /*15, *1/ /is devoted to Ellis Ott’s memory.Neubauer, Dean V. (1970) “Pl-Ott the Data”, /Quality Digest /Snee, R. D. (1990) “Statistics at Rutgers, The early years” /Newsletter/, Northern NJ Chapter, ASA.

Ellis R. Ott ScholarshipFor Applied Statistics and Quality Management

Ellis R. Ott ScholarshipFor Applied Statistics and Quality Management

Ellis R. Ott ScholarshipFor Applied Statistics and Quality Management

Ellis R. Ott ScholarshipFor Applied Statistics and Quality Management