The Frank Dilley Award is bestowed annually upon a Walden graduate whose dissertation is judged as meeting the highest standards of academic excellence.

Recipient: Dr. Teresa Bittner

Program: Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences with a specialization in Operations Research

Dissertation: The Noncontribution of Some Data in Least Squares Regression Predictions

Nominator Comments: Dr. Bittner presents in her dissertation a series of proofs that demonstrate both mathematically and visually that in the traditional and widely used least squares regression analysis, some data do not contribute in the prediction equations. She demonstrates the exact data points that do not contribute to the prediction for three different models (straight-line models, general polynomial models, and general univariate models) and presents a graphical analogy in physics to demonstrate the phenomenon in a more visual fashion.

For the general univariate model where the mathematics is intractable, she developed an algorithm to determine systematically those cases where the input data to the models drop out of the prediction equation. She also introduced the important and groundbreaking concept of data wells, which indicates that the non-contribution of data is a continuous phenomenon in the region that surrounds the individual, discrete data points. This concept will have a dramatic impact on anyone using least squares regression and will result in more accurate predictions through a clearer understanding of the contribution of the data being studied.

The mathematical development and proofs in Dr. Bittner’s dissertation contain a level of sophistication that could compete with any mathematics or statistics program in the country. She has submitted the main body of her work to various refereed and well-regarded statistics publications and has received promising reviews. Although she has not yet found the perfect journal to publish this work, the general consensus from the journal editors is that her work is high quality and important.

Rita Turner Award
For chairing Bittner’s dissertation committee, Dr. Kimberly Ross, faculty member in the School of Management, received the Rita Turner Award.

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