Shayle R. Searle

Shayle Robert Searle PhD (26 April 1928 – 18 February 2013) was a New Zealand mathematician who was professor emeritus of biological statistics at Cornell University. He was a prominent figure in the fields of linear and mixed models in statistics. He also published widely on the topics of linear models, mixed models, and variance component estimation.

Searle was one of the first statisticians to use matrix algebra in statistical methodology, and was an early proponent of the use of applied statistical techniques in animal breeding.

He died at his home in Ithaca, New York.

Education BA – Victoria University of Wellington – 1949 MSc – Victoria University of Wellington – 1950 PhD – Cornell University – 1958 DSc (h.c.) – Victoria University of Wellington – 2005

Employment Research statistician – New Zealand Dairy Board – 1953 to 1955, 1959 to 1962 Statistician – University Computing Center, Cornell University – 1962 to 1965 Professor of biological statistics – Cornell University – 1965 to 1996

Honours Winner, Humboldt Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellow, American Statistical Association Fellow, Royal Statistical Society Honorary Fellow, Royal Society of New Zealand