A Conversation with Stu Hunte

Professor J. Stuart Hunter has long been one of the leaders in the field of Statistics, Experimental Design and Quality Engineering. He has made many pioneering contributions to the response surface methodology, fractional factorial designs, and the use of experimental design in product and process design including the robust design problem.In October 2008, Professor Hunter was joined by Dr. Douglas Montgomery on the Arizona State University campus for a brief interview that would later be published by the American Society for Quality and shared with the world. In this interview, Dr. Montgomery starts with the early days in his career, immediately after high school, and through several professional and personal stages of Dr. Hunters life. We are pleased to be able to share this with the ASQ community, as well as the statistic community at large. 

Professor Stu Hunter remembers his early days. He went to work immediately after high school, first for Prudential Insurance as a ‘‘go-fer’’ and later for Exxon as an office boy. He was called to Army service in 1943 and after basic training joined the Army Specialized Training Program and studied electrical engineering at NC State. He was eventually assigned to a ‘‘chronograph’’ team at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland and later in the Philippines working with heavy ordnance groups. After service he returned to North Carolina State to get a B.S. and then a master’s degree in electrical engineering. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1954 he went to work for the American Cyanamid Company as an in-house statistical consultant. At that time Sam Wilks and John Tukey established the Statistical Techniques Research Group (STRG) at Princeton and invited George Box to be a codirector. George agreed and later invited Stu to come to Princeton as a research associate. At that time George Box received an invitation to the University of Wisconsin, Madison to establish the Department of Statistics at the Army Mathematics Research Center and Stu joined him there. Stu returned to Princeton and became a formal member of the faculty in the fall of 1961.

Stu Hunter recalls his colleagues at Princeton where, after returning from Wisconsin, he began teaching an undergraduate course with Sam Wilks, and also his work on “Statistics for Experimenters” textbook with George Box and Bill Hunter. George Box had a book in mind when he came back to the USA in 1956. He had written an expository paper on response surface methods and they worked together on 2k-p fractional factorials in Madison in 1960. Stu’s departure for Princeton delayed progress of writing the book. It was finally published in 1978. In February 1959 Stu became one of the founding editors of the journal “Technometrics” along with Cuthbert Daniel, Jack Youden, H. O. Hartley, Frank Wilcoxen, Carl Bennett, and others. Stu stayed with engineering at Princeton and never became a member of the Statistics Department which was eventually abandoned. During his sabbatical at Princeton Stu recorded a series of lectures on experimental design for Westinghouse. There he shared the studio with Mr. Rogers – a television personality of the time. One of the achievements that Stu is proud of is that when in the 70-ties students at Princeton began rating  their professors he was the first to be ranked in the top ten twice. Stu also expresses his view of statistics as a kind of language that people in sciences all learn.

Professor Stu Hunter relives his tenure at the American Statistical Association where he was first elected vice president and then president in 1993. As the president of the ASA Stu had the opportunity to arrange for Dr. Deming’s lecture to be delivered as the presidential address. Stu knew Dr. Deming from the early days and remembers their interactions over the years. In the 90-ties the ASQ education programs were turning out individuals schooled in applied statistics in very large numbers and Stu fearing that the status of the title ‘‘statistician’’ could soon be diminished proposed certifying statisticians. The proposal was not well received but is still coming up occasionally. The 1980s was a period of great excitement in the Quality arena and Stu was getting many offers to consult or speak or give a short course. He asked for a half-time appointment at Princeton to pursue those opportunities and was surprised by being offered a generous retirement package instead. As a Professor Emeritus, Stu still considers himself to be part of the faculty at Princeton. Stu married his wife Tady in 1952. They have two daughters and a son. Their oldest daughter is a professor of chemical engineering and their son is an engineer involved in building a dam on Ohio River.