Kenneth Koehler, University Professor of statistics, has been named interim chair of the Department of Statistics and the interim director of Statistical Laboratory at Iowa State University.

Koehler's appointment will run through June 30, 2003. He replaces Dean Isaacson, professor of statistics, who served as the head of the Department of Statistics for the last 18 years. Isaacson remains a member of the department’s faculty.

A member of the Iowa State faculty since 1977, Koehler is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

His research interests revolve around categorical data analysis, survival analysis, and multivariate statistical methods. He is an active collaborator with researchers in the biological and food sciences.

The Department of Statistics has a long tradition of developing quantitative methods for researchers in a broad range of scientific and engineering disciplines.