David Draper
Professor of Statistics
David Draper, Professor of Statistics, passed away on May 8, 2024.
An expert in Bayesian statistics, Draper was a beloved, enthusiastic, and dedicated teacher who taught generations of statistics students since joining the UC Santa Cruz Baskin School of Engineering in 2001. He was known for the generosity and respect he offered his students, as well as his characteristic gray fedora, which he was rarely seen without.
“I have known David since he joined UC Santa Cruz in 2001; he was a giant in his field with a brilliant mind and encyclopedic knowledge of many different areas,” said Phokion Kolaitis, Distinguished Professor Emeritus. “Every time I talked to him, I benefited from his wisdom and insights. His loss creates a void that cannot be filled.”
“David Draper was a great man, and a great brother — always kind and thoughtful to others, and very generous. Over the years, we had a lot of excellent times together. I will miss him dearly, as well as everyone else he had contact with in his life,” said John Draper, David’s brother.
Former Statistics Department Chair Robert Lund called David “A great orator of statistical knowledge; a visionary in the field with a gregarious wit and a never-ending supply of statistical puns and interesting anecdotes.” David’s 1995 paper titled Assessment and Propagation of Model Uncertainty, published in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B, has received more than 2400 citations to date and remains a hallmark achievement.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska and raised in Temple Hills, Maryland, David graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina. He was a passionate lifelong fan of Tarheels basketball, especially of Dean Smith. After working for IBM for a few years, David completed his doctorate in Statistics at UC Berkeley in 1981. He taught award-winning courses and led the Statistical Consulting Service at University of Chicago, then returned to California to join RAND as well as the faculty of RAND Graduate School where, again, his classes consistently drew accolades. At RAND from 1986-1993, David worked almost exclusively in health policy research, most notably with Robert Brook, Emmett Keeler, Katherine Kahn, and Bob Bell. He then moved to the University of Bath in England, becoming a Full Professor. David taught and conducted both methodological and applied research at Bath until being recruited to UCSC. He also served as a visiting professor at the University of Washington, UCLA, and the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
At UCSC, Draper served as the founding chair of the Applied Mathematics and Statistics Department for six years. In 2019, he was appointed faculty director of the UCSC Undergraduate Honors program. He was an active teaching professor and was teaching STAT 17 (Statistical Methods for Business and Economics) when he passed.
Draper’s research involved methodological developments in Bayesian statistics, with particular emphasis on hierarchical modeling, Bayesian nonparametric methods, modeling, uncertainty quantification, quality assessment, and risk assessment. Beyond theory, David explored applications in the environmental, medical, and social sciences. He was a Bayesian statistician at time when the Bayesian statistical revolution was starting to flourish, leading it’s development into the behemoth that it is today.
Beyond his statistical contributions, Draper will be remembered for the deep impact he had on students throughout his career. Draper received the UCSC Excellence in Teaching Award in 2007 and again recently in 2022. Nominated by students, the award recognizes instructors who have demonstrated exemplary and inspiring teaching. “It was a rare day that I would pass through Jack’s Lounge and not see David sitting in front of a rapt group of students receiving extra help in understanding the foundations of statistical methods,” said Alexander Wolf, Dean of Baskin Engineering.
In social media posts, students note admiring Draper’s story-telling style of conveying complex topics effectively, and especially his generosity of spirit. He approached each student as an individual worthy of enthusiasm and respect. In 2022, a student said the following about Draper’s outstanding teaching: “I loved how Professor Draper was able to connect concepts that were very abstract to real world happenings. If there was something in the news that someone found that mentioned statistics or something we had gone over, he would spend at lengths engaging with the topic. He was always available to answer questions and went far beyond what any other teacher I have had in terms of helping students. He made sure to cover every element in tests and quizzes. During a time of Zoom university burnout, he kept me engaged and going to watch his lectures. You can see his passion in his subject and his desire for us as students to succeed.”
Draper was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the Royal Statistical Society, and a former president of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis. He was the author or co-author on more than 200 contributions to the research literature, which together have been cited more than 20,000 times on Google Scholar.
David is survived by his brother John Draper in Phoenix, Arizona.
