Dr. Alyson Wilson – 2018 Distinguished Achievement Award

Congratulations to Alyson Wilson, Professor at North Carolina State University, recipient of the 2018 SDNS Distinguished Achievement Award given in recognition of outstanding accomplishments and sustained contributions at the intersection of the statistical profession and national defense.

Specifically, this year’s award salutes Alyson’s key roles at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Institute of Defense Analyses, both vital components of our national defense program, as well as her accomplishments and leadership as the academic director of the Laboratory for Analytical Sciences, a partnership between the National Security Agency and a variety of academic institutions, chiefly North Carolina State University. In addition, the award acknowledges Alyson’s service to SDNS in numerous roles, including most notably as its chair in 2007, and her research in Bayesian reliability that was largely motivated by important defense applications. As one nominator said, “in terms of her career, her research, her service, and her leadership, I know of no one better qualified to receive this recognition.”

SDNS plans on hosting a Distinguished Achievement Award banquet on Wednesday of JSM week in Vancouver, i.e., August 1. The tentative time is 6:30-9 PM, with price targeted to $50 or so per person (attendees will need to cover the cost of their meal), at a site TBD based on the number of attendees and other considerations. Obviously, we will need an initial head count to support early planning and then we will need to finalize the number before formalizing agreements with the banquet site.