Isaacson, Dean L., 1941-

Dean L. Isaacson was born 10 April 1942 in St. Cloud, Minnesota. He received his B.A. (1963) in mathematics from Macalester College, and his M.A. (1966) and Ph. D. (1968) in mathematics from the University of Minnesota.

Isaacson joined the faculty at Iowa State University as Assistant Professor (1968-1972) in the Statistical Laboratory. He soon received a joint appointment to the Departments of Statistics and Mathematics and was promoted to Associate Professor (1972-1976). Isaacson was then promoted to Professor (1976-2009) of Mathematics and Statistics. He was asked to become Acting Director of the Statistical Laboratory and Head of the Statistics Deparment (1984-1986) and eventually was named the permanent Director and Head (1986-2002). He retired from administrative work, but continues to teach classes in the Deparment of Statistics.

At Iowa State, Isaacson served on numerous councils and committees. His main area of research was on homogeneous and non-homogeneous Markov chains on which he has published a book, Markov Chains, Theories and Applications (call no. QA274.7 I78), and many articles.

Several prestigious awards have been bestowed upon Isaacson. He recieved the Outstanding Teaching Award (1980) and the Presidential Service Award (2006) from Iowa State University. He received the Regents Award for Faculty Excellence from the Iowa Board of Regents. Isaacson was also named a Fellow (1994) of the American Statistical Association.