A special issue of the Journal of Statistical Research was recently dedicated to Professor Emeritus Mir Maswood Ali, who celebrated his 80th birthday on March 1.
Ali was born in Patuakhali, Bangladesh, taking his B.Sc. and master’s (Statistics) from the University of Dhaka. He worked as an actuarial assistant from 1952 to 1957, then obtained another master’s (Actuarial Mathematics) at the University of Michigan, and worked as a teaching fellow until 1961. He completed a doctorate at the University of Toronto in 1961.
Ali joined the faculty ranks at the University of Western Ontario, and obtained full professorship in 1966. He developed the undergraduate and graduate programs in Statistics within the Department of Mathematics, and contributed to the creation of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science.
Ali has taught a wide array of courses in Mathematics, Actuarial Science and Statistics and assumed a large portion of the graduate teaching. Active in graduate supervision, 40 master’s and 15 PhD students have completed degrees with his guidance. Ali has published more than 35 scholarly papers, many in leading journals. He was granted the title of Professor Emeritus in 1994.