John Deely: A man of the world
Name: John Deely
Current position: Continuing lecturer and research scholar in the Department of in Statistics
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Year graduated from College of Science: Earned a master's degree in mathematics from Purdue in 1958 and a Ph.D. in statistics in 1965.
Dual citizen: Deely was a professor of statistics at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand for 28 years and is both a citizen of the United States and New Zealand. During those years he feels particularly lucky to have benefited from very liberal study leave allowances at Canterbury University . He was thus able to meet and collaborate with several internationally prominent statisticians. This year will be the tenth year he will be one of the participants in a summer school in Asti, Italy, presenting Bayesian methods to students in the biological sciences.
Years teaching at Purdue: Deely began teaching statistics at Purdue in 1997, and mainly teaches two courses: STAT 113 — Statistics and Society, which is taken largely by Liberal Arts majors during the fall and spring semesters; and STAT 529K — a graduate-level course in his specialty, Bayesian Applied Decision Theory, which is taught during Maymester.
Former engineer: Deely started out as an electrical engineer, graduating from Georgia Tech and working for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the precursor to NASA. He soon discovered that he didn't feel his calling was in engineering and decided to pursue a graduate degree in math, which led into a career in statistics.
Making statistics fun: Deely says it is a challenge to teach statistical methods to students who have no background or little interest in the subject, so he has to get their attention.
"I try to show humorous things, how statistics are used and abused. To enhance this type of teaching, I try to use modern technology which includes computer demos and videos. All of the students in STAT 113 have 'clickers,' which can communicate electronically with the classroom computer. This technology allows me to frequently ask questions and collect data from them. It keeps them interested and helps them understand how statistics can be applied."
Found his niche: Deely says his career in statistics has been a perfect fit. "Statistics appealed to me emotionally. There's an uncertainty in dealing with data and probability and that uncertainty seems to really fit in with my personality."
Hobbies: Tennis, travel, woodworking, playing bridge.