Ross Ihaka Explained

Ross Ihaka
Birth Name:	George Ross Ihaka
Birth Place:	Waiuku, New Zealand
Fields:	Statistical computing
Workplaces:	University of Auckland
Alma Mater:	University of Auckland University of California, Berkeley (PhD)
Thesis Title:	Rūaumoko
Thesis Url:	https://search.library.berkeley.edu/permalink/01UCS_BER/1thfj9n/alma991057552089706532
Thesis Year:	1985
Doctoral Advisor:	David R. Brillinger
Known For:	R programming language
Awards:	Pickering Medal (2008)

George Ross Ihaka (born 1954^[1]) is a New Zealand statistician who was an associate professor of statistics at the University of Auckland until his retirement in 2017.^[2] Alongside Robert Gentleman, he is one of the creators of the R programming language.^{[3] [4]} In 2008, Ihaka received the Pickering Medal, awarded by the Royal Society of New Zealand, for his work on R.^[5]

Education

Ihaka completed his undergraduate education at the University of Auckland, and obtained his PhD in 1985 from the University of California, Berkeley supervised by David R. Brillinger. His thesis was on statistical modelling for seismic interferometry and was titled Rūaumoko, after the god of earthquakes, volcanoes and seasons in Māori mythology.^{[6] [7]}

Career and research

As of 2010, he was working on a new statistical programming language based on Lisp.^{[8] [9]} The Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland started a public lecture series in his honour in 2017.^[10]

Personal life

Ihaka is of Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne and Ngati Pākehā (New Zealand European) descent.^[11]

Notes and References

1. Book: Wickham, Hadley . 2014 . Advanced R . New York . Chapman and Hall/CRC . 437 . 9780429192678.
2. Web site: Ross Ihaka retires from the Department of Statistics – The University of Auckland. stat.auckland.ac.nz. 2018-09-17.
3. Ihaka. R.. Gentleman. R.. 1996. R: A Language for Data Analysis and Graphics. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics. 5. 3. 299–314. 10.2307/1390807. 1390807.
4. Web site: Vance. Ashlee. Ashlee Vance. 7 January 2009. [//www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/technology/business-computing/07program.html Data Analysts Captivated by R's Power]. The New York Times. 2009-01-07.
5. http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/awards/pickering-medal/recipients/ Pickering Medal: Recipients
6. Rūaumoko . University of California, Berkeley. berkeley.edu. 1985. George Ross. Ihaka. 910485430. . PhD.
7. Web site: David R. Brillinger's students. 14 August 2014. stat.berkeley.edu . Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley.
8. Book: Compstat 2008. Ross. Ihaka. Duncan. Temple Lang. Back to the Future: Lisp as a Base for a Statistical Computing System . 25 August 2008. 21–33 . 10.1007/978-3-7908-2084-3_2. 978-3-7908-2083-6 . //www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/%7Eihaka/downloads/Compstat-2008.pdf.
9. [//www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/%7Eihaka/downloads/JSM-2010.pdf R: Lessons Learned, Directions for the Future]. Ross. Ihaka. Joint Statistical Meetings 2010, Statistical Computing Section. 2010.
10. Web site: Ihaka Lecture Series – The University of Auckland. stat.auckland.ac.nz. 2018-09-17.
11. Web site: Middleton . Juliet . Academic unfazed by rock star status . en-NZ . 9 January 2009 . The New Zealand Herald.