Nils Donald Ylvisaker (September 23, 1933 – March 20, 2022),[1] often known as Don Ylvisaker, was an American mathematical statistician.

Don Ylvisaker
Born(1933-09-23)September 23, 1933
DiedMarch 20, 2022(2022-03-20) (aged 88)
EducationConcordia College
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Stanford University
Scientific career
InstitutionsNew York University
University of Washington
UCLA
Thesis On Time Series Analysis and Reproducing Kernel Spaces  (1960)
Doctoral advisorEmanuel Parzen

Education and career edit

Ylvisaker was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He studied at Concordia College and obtained his BA in mathematics and economics in 1954. He then continued his study in mathematics at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and obtained an MA in 1956. He received his Ph.D. in Statistics from Stanford University in 1960 under the supervision of Emanuel Parzen. Ylvisaker was Parzen's first PhD student at Stanford.[2]

Ylvisaker taught at Columbia University, New York University, and the University of Washington, before moving to the University of California, Los Angeles, where he remained until his retirement in 1996. He was one of the founding members of the Department of Statistics at UCLA.[3]

Recognition edit

Ylvisaker was named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1991.[4]

Personal life edit

Besides academic research, Ylvisaker served as a statistical consultant to the California State Lottery.[3] Ylvisaker's wife Anna Ylvisaker (née Ricci) works at the UCLA Department of Mathematics.[5]

Ylvisaker died on March 20, 2022.[6][3]

Bibliography edit

  • Diaconis, Persi; Ylvisaker, Donald (1979-03-01). "Conjugate priors for exponential families". The Annals of Statistics. 7 (2). doi:10.1214/aos/1176344611. ISSN 0090-5364.
  • Gangolli, R. A.; Ylvisaker, Donald (1967). Discrete probability. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. ISBN 0-15-517690-0. OCLC 313642.[7]

References edit

  1. ^ "Institute of Mathematical Statistics | Obituary: Donald Ylvisaker 1933–2022". Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  2. ^ Sacks, Jerome; Ylvisaker, Donald (2012-05-01). "After 50+ Years in Statistics, An Exchange". Statistical Science. 27 (2). arXiv:1207.5656. doi:10.1214/12-STS386. ISSN 0883-4237.
  3. ^ a b c "Don Ylvisaker | UCLA Statistics". statistics.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
  4. ^ "ASA Fellows". American Statistical Association. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  5. ^ "Celebratio Mathematica — Liggett — Ylvisaker". celebratio.org. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
  6. ^ "Nils "Don" Ylvisaker". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
  7. ^ Reviews of Discrete Probability: