Tom L. Bratcher, Ph.D.

Professor of Statistical Science

Education
Ph.D., Statistics, Southern Methodist University, 1969
M.S., Statistics, Southern Methodist University, 1965
B.S., Mathematics, University of Texas Arlington, 1963

Major area of research
Statistical inference, Bayesian methods

Courses currently teaching
• 4382 Intermediate Statistical Methods
• 5353 Theory of Statistics III
• 5380 Statistical Methods for Research

Biography

After an exciting high school experience in Fort Worth, physics sounded interesting to me but I kept taking these easy math courses instead at UT Arlington. Since no one offered me a job after graduation (well I never asked for one), I thought about graduate studies in mathematics. However, they offered more money to study statistics at SMU, so why not. Upon completing an MS degree, I went to Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque with a Q clearance (an "if I tell you, I would have to kill you" type of deal). There, these Ph.D.s kept telling me what to do so I decided to get one of those Ph.D. my own self and did. When offered a position with the Raging Cajuns of the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, the Crawfish Capitol of the World, how could I refuse? We started a Ph.D. Program in Statistics and a new Louisiana Chapter of the American Statistical Association. Not wanting to be buried in the swamps, I returned to Central Texas and Baylor. Here I was a primary organizer of the Conference of Texas Statisticians. Baylor hosted the 30th such Conference in Spring 2010. Then we began this Ph.D. program in Statistics which I have directed for 20 years. Currently I dwell in the hills of Bosque County with the goats, donkeys, cattle, and coyotes.

Selected Publications

Stamey J, Bratcher, T., Seaman, J. (2008) A note on inference on multiple generalized Poisson populations, American Journal of Mathematical and Management Sciences, 28, 213-229.

Hamilton, C., Bratcher, T.L., and Stamey, J. (2008) Bayesian subset selection approach to ranking normal means, Journal of Applied Statistics, 35, 847-851.

Stamey J, Bratcher, T., Young, D. (2007) Bayesian subset selection of binomial parameters using possibly misclassified data, Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods, 6, 551-560.

Stamey, J., Bratcher, T., and Young, D. (2006). Bayesian sample size determination for one and two Poisson rate parameters with applications to quality control, Journal of Applied Statistics, 33, 583-594.

Bratcher, T., and Hamilton, C. (2005). A Bayesian multiple comparsons procedure for ranking means of normally distributed data, Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference, 133(1), 23-32.

Stamey, J., Bratcher, T., and Young, D.(2004). Bayesian predictive probability functions for data that are subject to misclassification, Biometrical Journal, 46, 572-578.

Bratcher, T., and Stamey, J. (2004). A note on Bayesian interval estimation for comparing two Poisson rates, The Mathematical Scientist, 29, 54-60.

Stamey, J., Bratcher, T., and Young, D. (2004). Parameter subset selection and multiple comparisons of Poisson rate parameters with misclassification, Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, 45, 467-479.