A Conversation with George G. Roussas

Abstract

George G. Roussas was born in the city of Marmara in central Greece, on June 29, 1933. He received a B.A. with high honors in Mathematics from the University of Athens in 1956, and a Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964. In 1964–1966, he served as Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the California State University, San Jose, and he was a faculty member of the Department of Statistics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1966–1976, starting as an Assistant Professor in 1966, becoming a Professor in 1972. He was a Professor of Applied Mathematics and Director of the Laboratory of Applied Mathematics at the University of Patras, Greece, in 1972–1984. He was elected Dean of the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Patras in 1978, and Chancellor of the university in 1981. He served for about three years as Vice President-Academic Affairs of the then new University of Crete, Greece, in 1981–1985. In 1984, he was a Visiting Professor in the Intercollege Division of Statistics at the University of California, Davis, and he was appointed Professor, Associate Dean and Chair of the Graduate Group in Statistics in the same university in 1985; he served in the two administrative capacities in 1985–1999. He is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute since 1974, a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society since 1975, a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics since 1983, and a Fellow of the American Statistical Association since 1986. He served as a member of the Council of the Hellenic Mathematical Society, and as President of the Balkan Union of Mathematicians. He is a Distinguished Professor of Statistics at the University of California, Davis, since 2003, the Chair of the Advisory Board of the “Demokritos Society of America” (a Think Tank) since 2007, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 2008, and a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Athens in the field of Mathematical Statistics, elected by the membership in the plenary session of April 17, 2008.