A Conversation with Raymond J. Carroll

Abstract

Raymond J. Carroll is Distinguished Professor of Statistics, Nutrition and Toxicology at Texas A& M University, USA. He has made fundamental contributions to numerous statistical and health science areas, including measurement error models, data transformation and weighting in regression, nonparametric and semiparametric regression, longitudinal data analysis, and statistical methods and applications in nutrition, epidemiology and molecular biology. Carroll has received many distinguished honors. Some highlights are the 1988 Presidents’ Award of the Committee of Presidents’ of Statistical Societies (COPSS), the 2002 COPSS Fisher Lectureship Award, American Statistial Association and Institute of Mathematical Statistics fellows. He was the first statistician given a Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award from the US National Cancer Institute. Carroll has provided outstanding professional services, including editor of Biometrics, the Journal of the American Statistical Association (Theory and Methods), and founding chair of the Biostatistical Methods and Research Design study section of the US National Institutes of Health. Carroll is an inspirational and successful teacher and mentor. He has won a College of Science Teaching Award from Texas A&M University, and has trained over 45 Ph.D. students. He has also been an outstanding mentor and supporter to many junior researchers in the statistical community, including the two authors of this article. In this interview, Carroll talks about his career, including his passion for mentoring junior researchers, and offers some helpful advice.