Dr. James J. Cochran is Professor of Applied Statistics and the Rogers-Spivey Faculty Fellow, and Associate Dean for Research, at The University of Alabama. Born in Dayton, Ohio, he got his B.S., M.S., and M.B.A. from Wright State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati. Cochran has been at The University of Alabama since 2014 and has been a visiting scholar at Universidad de Talca, the University of South Africa, Stanford University, , and Pole Universitaire Leonard de Vinci. James has published more than 40 papers in the development and application of operations research and statistical methods. He has published in several journals, including The American Statistician, Management Science, Communications in Statistics Theory and Methods, Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, European Journal of Operational Research. He got the 2008 INFORMS Prize for the Teaching of Operations Research Practice, 2010 Mu Sigma Rho Statistical Education Award, and 2016 Waller Distinguished Teaching Career Award from the American Statistical Association.

He was elected to the International Statistics Institute in 2005, was named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2011 and was named a Fellow of INFORMS in 2017. Dr. Cochran received the Founders Award in 2014, the Karl E. Peace Award in 2015 from the American Statistical Association, and the INFORMS President’s Award in 2019.