PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Luke Tierney

Luke Tierney is an emeritus professor at the University of Iowa and a member of the R Core Team, which builds and maintains R, a language widely used in statistics and data science. He earned degrees from Johns Hopkins University in 1977 and Cornell University in 1980, and he wrote the XLispStat package in 1990. In 2002 he arrived at Iowa as the Wareham Professor of Mathematical Sciences, and the American Statistical Association gave him its Statistical Computing and Graphics Award in 2019. The AAAS named him a fellow in 2021 for work on Bayesian statistics and statistical computing. In 2026 he was one of five laureates of the Rousseeuw Prize for Statistics, and he retired from his Iowa professorship in July 2026.

Now at
R Core Team and University of Iowa
Works
138
Citations
21,504
h-index
25

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1977–1980

    Degrees from Johns Hopkins and Cornell

    He earns BA and MA degrees in mathematical sciences from Johns Hopkins University in 1977 and a PhD in operations research from Cornell University in 1980.

  2. 1990

    Writing the XLispStat package

    In 1990 he writes the XLispStat package using C and Lisp.

  3. 1990s

    Joining the R project

    In the mid-1990s he begins working on R, a language widely used in statistics and data science.

  4. 2002

    Ralph E. Wareham professor at Iowa

    He arrives at Iowa in 2002 as the Ralph E. Wareham Professor of Mathematical Sciences.

  5. 2019

    Statistical Computing and Graphics Award

    The American Statistical Association gives him the Statistical Computing and Graphics Award in 2019.

  6. 2021

    An AAAS fellowship

    In 2021 the AAAS elects him a fellow for work on Bayesian statistics and statistical computing.

  7. 2026

    A share of the Rousseeuw Prize

    In 2026 he shares the $1 million Rousseeuw Prize for Statistics with four other R Core Team members, who build and maintain R.

  8. Since July 2026

    Emeritus professor at Iowa

    He is an emeritus professor at Iowa, having retired in July 2026.

Sources and credits

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  1. Luke Tierney - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  2. UI statistician shares prestigious $1M Rousseeuw Prize for helping transform statistical computing | Iowa Now - The University of Iowa now.uiowa.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  3. 7 Iowa faculty named AAAS fellows | Iowa Now - The University of Iowa now.uiowa.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  4. Luke Tierney | Statistics and Actuarial Science - College of Liberal Arts and Sciences | The University of Iowa stat.uiowa.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  5. Rousseeuw Prize 2026 Awarded to the R Project - The R Blog blog.r-project.org. Checked 15 October 2026.