Mir Masoom Ali (born February 1, 1937) is a Bangladeshi American statistician, Distinguished Professor, educator, researcher and author. He migrated to the United States in 1969 and became a naturalized citizen in 1981. Ali founded the graduate and undergraduate programs in statistics at

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana, United States. The university has three off-campus centers in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Fishers, Indiana. The university is composed of seven aca ...

. He co-founded the Midwest Biopharmaceutical Statistics Workshop (MBSW-History), held at Ball State University annually since 1978, and co-sponsored by the

American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 27, 1839, and is the second-oldest continuous ...

. He served as editor and associate editor of several international statistical journals. He is the founding president of the North America Bangladesh Statistical Association (NABSA) and a member of advisory board at

Shahjalal University of Science and Technology The Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, abbreviated as SUST, is a Public university, public research university in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Established in 1986, it is one of the leading universities in pioneering research and education ...

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

, Bangladesh. In 2002 Ali received the

Sagamore of the Wabash The Governor of Indiana, Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana can bestow five types of awards: the Sagamore of the Wabash, the Circle of Corydon, the Distinguished Hoosier, the Honorary Hoosier, and the Sachem Award. Given at the Governor's dis ...

Award, the highest award given in the US state of Indiana, by the Governor of Indiana

Frank O'Bannon Frank Lewis O'Bannon (January 30, 1930 – September 13, 2003) was an American politician who served as the 47th governor of Indiana from 1997 until his death in 2003. He is the most recent American state Governor to have died in office. O'Ba ...

, for his contributions to

, to higher education in the state, and specifically to the statistics profession.

Early life and career

Ali was born in

Patuakhali Patuakhali ( ''Potuakhali'') is a town and district headquarters of Patuakhali District located on the southern bank of Laukathi river in Barisal Division in Bangladesh. It is the administrative headquarter of Patuakhali district and one of the ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(presently

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

) on February 1, 1937. His parents were Mir Muazzam Ali, a Patuakhali lawyer, and Azifa Ali, an advocate for women's education. He spent his childhood in Patuakhali until graduating from Patuakhali Jubilee High English School in 1951. In 1953, Ali received his I. Sc. degree from

Dhaka College Dhaka College (), informally known as DC, is a public educational institution of Bangladesh located in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. It is one of the oldest educational institutions in the subcontinent. It offers Honours degree, honours and Master's degree ...

. In 1956, he obtained his B.Sc. (Honors) degree and in 1957 his M.Sc. degree, both in statistics from

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public university, public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka w ...

. After graduation, Ali was employed by the erstwhile government of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

from 1958 until 1966. He held a wide array of statistical positions in various ministries of the government. In 1966, Ali, on leave of absence from his government position, completed his second master's degree in 1967 and a Ph.D. degree in 1969, both in mathematical statistics from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, under the supervision of Donald A. S. Fraser.

Career in academia

In 1969, Ali began his academic career at

Muncie, Indiana Muncie ( ) is a city in Delaware County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It is located in East Central Indiana about northeast of Indianapolis. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 65,195, down from 70,085 in the 2010 c ...

, US as an assistant professor of statistics, then became an associate professor in 1974 and a full professor in 1978. In 2000, he was named the George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Statistics. Upon Ali's retirement in 2007, he was appointed as the George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Statistics Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Sciences. During Ali's tenure at Ball State University, he published roughly 200 articles and presented over 120 papers at various professional meetings and universities worldwide. His earlier publications were on h-statistics, l-statistics, k-statistics and related finite

sampling methods In this statistics, quality assurance, and survey methodology, sampling is the selection of a subset or a statistical sample (termed sample for short) of individuals from within a population (statistics), statistical population to estimate char ...

. Later his research focused on

order statistics In statistics, the ''k''th order statistic of a statistical sample is equal to its ''k''th-smallest value. Together with rank statistics, order statistics are among the most fundamental tools in non-parametric statistics and inference. Important ...

and

statistical inference Statistical inference is the process of using data analysis to infer properties of an underlying probability distribution.Upton, G., Cook, I. (2008) ''Oxford Dictionary of Statistics'', OUP. . Inferential statistical analysis infers properties of ...

based on optimal spacing and goodness-of-fit procedures. He has also published in diverse areas such as ranking and selection, multivariate distributions, characterization, and mixtures of distributions. Most recently he has published in the areas of

Bayesian inference Bayesian inference ( or ) is a method of statistical inference in which Bayes' theorem is used to calculate a probability of a hypothesis, given prior evidence, and update it as more information becomes available. Fundamentally, Bayesian infer ...

and

reliability theory Reliability engineering is a sub-discipline of systems engineering that emphasizes the ability of equipment to function without failure. Reliability is defined as the probability that a product, system, or service will perform its intended funct ...

. He is a Fellow of the

, a Fellow of the

Institute of Statisticians An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

, a Fellow of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

, and an Expatriate Fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences. Ali has been a visiting professor at several universities and statistical institutes in the US, Canada, Bangladesh, India, Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia.

Honors bestowed

* Fellow of the

* Expatriate Fellow of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences * Elected Member,

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. At a meeting of the Jubilee Meeting of the Royal Statistical Society, statisticians met and formed the agreed statues of the International Statistical ...

* Member of the

Institute of Mathematical Statistics The Institute of Mathematical Statistics is an international professional and scholarly society devoted to the development, dissemination, and application of statistics and probability. The Institute currently has about 4,000 members in all parts ...

Awards received

Award – awarded by Former Governor of Indiana

, 2002. * Gold Medal of the Islamic Society of Statistical Sciences, 2005. * First recipient of the

Qazi Motahar Hossain Qazi Motahar Hossain (30 July 1897 – 9 October 1981) was a Bangladeshi writer, scientist, statistician, chess player, and journalist. Hossain was a pioneer educationalist of Bangladesh. He did original research in statistics and pioneered ...

Gold Medal, 1990. * Outstanding Faculty Award, Ball State University, 1993. * Outstanding Researcher Award, Ball State University, 1985. * "Our Pride" Award, Bangladeshi-American Federation Incorporated (BAFI), 2005.

Special volumes published

* Special Volume of the Journal of Statistics in Honor of Professor Mir Masoom Ali, 2014. * Statistics in the Twenty-first Century: A Special Volume of the Pakistan Journal of Statistics and Operation Research in Honor of Professor Mir Masoom Ali on the occasion of his 75th Birthday Anniversary, 2012. * Festschrift in Honor of Professor Mir Masoom Ali on the occasion of his retirement, 2007 by Ball State University. * Special Volume of the International Journal of Statistical Sciences in Honor of Professor Mir Masoom Ali on the occasion of his 70th Birthday Anniversary, 2007. * Special Volume of the Pakistan Journal of Statistics in Honor of Professor Mir Masoom Ali, 2004. * Special Volume of the Journal of Statistical Studies in Honor of Professor Mir Masoom Ali on the occasion of his 65th Birthday Anniversary, 2002.

Notes and references

External links

Dr. Mir Masoom Ali Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Mir Masoom American statisticians Pakistani emigrants to the United States Bengali educators Pakistani expatriates in Canada 1937 births Ball State University faculty Living people Fellows of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences Dhaka College alumni Fellows of the American Statistical Association University of Toronto alumni People from Patuakhali district