20 Facts About Howard Wainer

1.

Howard Charles Wainer was born on October 26,1943 and is an American statistician, past principal research scientist at the Educational Testing Service, adjunct professor of statistics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and author, known for his contributions in the fields of statistics, psychometrics, and statistical graphics.

2.

Howard Wainer was born Howard Charles Goldhaber in Brooklyn, New York on October 26,1943.

3.

Early on Howard Wainer showed an aptitude for science and mathematics.

4.

Howard Wainer spent two hours traveling on subway and bus each way to and from Columbia, learning about Markov chains and number theory in the morning and working on the IBM 650 computer in the afternoon.

5.

Howard Wainer matriculated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1961 to study mathematics.

6.

Howard Wainer began his teaching career at Temple University in 1968, staying on as an assistant professor until 1970.

7.

Howard Wainer then moved to Washington, DC, to join the Bureau of Social Science Research, a nonprofit organization that focused on policy research.

8.

Howard Wainer was an adjunct professor of statistics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania from 2002 until 2013.

9.

Howard Wainer is the recipient of numerous awards and honors: He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association and the American Educational Research Association.

10.

Howard Wainer was given a Career Achievement Award for Contributions to Educational Measurement by the National Council on Measurement in Education in 2007, the Samuel J Messick Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions from Division 5 of the American Psychological Association in 2009, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Psychometric Society in 2013.

11.

Howard Wainer was a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands, and the American College Testing organization.

12.

Howard Wainer received the Educational Testing Service's Senior Scientist Award in 1990.

13.

Since 1974 when he published his first article on statistical graphics, an empirical verification of the efficacy of the suspended Rootogram, Howard Wainer has been a tireless advocate for the efficacy of graphics for communicating quantitative phenomena.

14.

Howard Wainer is one of the principals responsible for the renewed importance of graphics in statistics.

15.

Howard Wainer has authored, co-authored or edited the principal texts in five of the major areas of the subject: test scoring, test validity, computerized adaptive testing, test fairness, and, most recently, on a theory of testlets.

16.

Howard Wainer has published more than 450 articles, chapters and books.

17.

Howard Wainer edited the Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics from 2002 through 2004 as well as being an associate editor of a handful of statistical and psychometric journals.

18.

Howard Wainer is currently on the Board of Editors of Significance, the new joint publication of the American Statistical Association and the Royal Statistical Society.

19.

Howard Wainer has served on the front lines of educational practice by working for many years as a consultant for teachers' unions, with a five-year hiatus when he served on the Princeton Board of Education.

20.

Howard Wainer has served, in many capacities, as a consultant and advisor to government and industry.