The Nash Medal in Statistics is given each year to the most outstanding graduating student in the B.Sc. program in Statistics. The Medal recognizes the great service to statistics given by Professor Stanley Nash (1915-2001) over his more than forty years at UBC.
Professor Nash came to UBC in 1950 just after finishing his Ph.D. in statistics at Berkeley. For a great many years, he was the only statistician on the campus and so established himself as the statistical expert. Professor Nash kept an electrical calculator on his desk and rendered consulting advice and service to generations of students and faculty at UBC. He maintained an active interest in the developments which eventually led to the creation of the Statistical Society of Canada. For that and his other contributions to the development of the statistical sciences, Professor Nash was awarded an honorary membership in the Statistical Society of Canada in 1987.
The Department's Nash Medal, established in 1994, is supported by the Statistics Fund for Excellence.