This book is based upon lecture notes developed by Jack Kiefer for a course in statistical inference he taught at Cornell University. The notes were distributed to the class in lieu of a textbook, and the problems were used for homework assignments. Relying only on modest prerequisites of probability theory and cal culus, Kiefer's approach to a first course in statistics is to present the central ideas of the modem mathematical theory with a minimum of fuss and formality. He is able to do this by using a rich mixture of examples, pictures, and math ematical derivations to complement a clear...

The theory of optimal design of experiments as we know it today is built on asolid foundation developed by Jack Kiefer, who formulated and resolved some of the major problems of data collection via experimentation. A principal ingredient in his formulation was statistical efficiency of a design. Kiefer's theoretical contributions to optimal designs can be broadly classified into several categories: He rigorously defined, developed, and interrelated statistical notions of optimality. He developed powerful tools for verifying and searching for optimal designs; this includes the "averaging...