Dear Aya:

We are both members of a generation who studied statistics in the 1960s, and both of us in our own way has tried to apply our models and methods in real world settings.  But we are also of a generation that shared personal experiences as well as professional ones.  Indeed I have fond memories of visits to Haifa---to the Technion and to your home.

Your impact on the field of statistics is measured for me, not so much by publications, and even by our professional interactions, but at least as much it is embodied in my interactions with those you have influenced, especially the students you have trained, and the values they have carried from you.

I look forward to our continued interaction, both professional and personal, while at the same time hope that you get to enjoy the other activities that retirement will now allow you to indulge.

Best,

Steve.

A Statistical Inspiration

Aya:

Where would I be without you? Where would so much of my research be?

Simply said -- we -- me and my research -- would be lost without you. In so many cases my students and I could not make sense of our own data. And you found a way. So many studies would have remained unfinished without you. Of course it was always my own fault -- I myself managed to create a research design in which I could not sort through the statistical complications. But you were there for me -- you managed to salvage my mutant data.

You are always there, knowledgeable about the most appropriate way to frame and comprehend methodological or statistical issues. Always eager and able to be helpful. I am not sure you are aware how grateful I am about this. I want this blog to convey my deeply felt gratitude and appreciation.

You have also been nice, kind and warmly welcoming throughout my time at the Technion. You have always made me feel so welcome, so connected, so real. In the very industrial, technical, mathematical culture of our faculty the people are too often lost. Thank you for continuing to remind us that good work can be done amidst an aura of warmth, pleasantness, welcome.

In your terms - you been have a Highly Significant Inspiration for me about doing top quality social science research while also being a nice person.

I know we will continue to see you at the faculty, and I am grateful for that. I also wish you many more years of enjoying your work and your family.

Much love,

Anat

Best wishes to Aya from the Kettenring family

Hi Aya!

Your impending retirement brings back fond memories of the Cohen family visits, long and short, to Bell Labs and Bellcore. Our shared interests in applied statistics created a strong bond but even more important were our fun times together, which always included a parade of stories about our growing families. This was topped off for Pat and me by your hosting in Haifa of our daughter, Karin, during her internship in Israel. (Karin has just begun an appointment as an assistant professor at Utah State University in Logan, UT.)

This past week I was reviewing some of our ancient joint work on visualizing distances among objects in ways that reveal clusters in multivariate data. Work of this kind is still important. After your retirement, you should have more time to reflect on the big problems in life, such as this one!

Having preceded you in retirement by several years, I am sure you will find much fulfillment and more time for things that are at the top of your priority list.

Pat and I send along our best wishes and look forward to our next get together.

With warmest regards,

Jon

Aya, Congratulations and Memories

Memories of Aya and Elisha go back some 40 years, to their visits to Bell Labs.  They both were welcome visitors, in statistics and physics research, and happily returned several times.  They also became dear friends, the kind you can meet again after a long absence and feel that no time has elapsed, but how good to be together again.

My respect and affection for Aya as a colleague and, more, as a person have not dimmed.  Even though our technical interests might not seem to have much in common, Aya's concern for what matters in applying statistics to real problems resonates deeply, and I believe has shaped her influence as a teacher and inspirer of students.

So welcome to retirement, Aya.  It's fine, as long as you can keep on doing things that are fun and maybe useful.  And the advantage is that people can't as easily tell you what those things are!

Every best wish,

  John and Bea

A tribute

40 years after studying statistics of particles in Physics, it was time to study statistics of humans. Well, there was a book in Hebrew at the store which looked readable, by one Aya Cohen. I bought it, and then even took her class. Amazingly, this arcane topic was understandable! Later on Pnina and I befriended the couple Aya and Elisha, and knowing this really nice couple explained all. So keep up the good work, Aya, and enjoy "retirement" life with Elisha and family!
Pnina and Raphi Klein

aya and applied statistics in israel

when i think of applied statistics in israel aya is almost a synonym.

i believe we first met almost 30 years ago at bell laboratories when she was there with her husband.

at that time, applied statistics had strong advocates such as john tukey, george box and bill hunter, to name a few.

over time, more disciplines have started developing data analysis techniques and, "applied statistics" is now practiced and developed by computer scientists, physicists, engineers, biologists etc...

applied statistics in israeli academia has always been a minority. the interest of most ISA members is in theoretical developments, just look at the talks given at the annual conference.

aya has always been keen to help promote applied statistics. her talks at the ISA conferences and elsewhere have always been outsdaning demonstrations of what applied statistics with the highest standards looks like.

it is now understood by many that a proper mix of theory and application needs to be reached and i believe aya has the key to this.

given all that, i suggest that aya has a critical role to play in the future of statistics in israel. she is one of those unique individuals that can help the profession reach the right balance. and we need such help.

i wish her a good retirement with health and "nahat" from her close ones and hope she will help us achieve the right balance. what she can offer is critical to academia and industry in israel.

good luck in your next steps and looking forward to continued collaboration.

best,

ron kenett

From Jacqueline Asscher

I first met Aya when I came to work as an assistant at the Statistics Laboratory shortly after coming to Israel. She was very kind to me, inviting me to her home and treating me like an adoptive mother. Aya gave me some very useful advice, for example I always remember that she told me to be a good daughter-in-law!

Aya is a remarkable statistical consultant. One of my first memories of working with her is of watching her casually jot down a complicated model during a meeting and thinking to myself “wow, how did she do that so fast?” Looking back, I now say “wow, how can she identify the statistical issues and what is worrying the clients and how to make them feel they are in good hands and even the dynamics between them?”

Aya is also a wonderful teacher. The people that are writing here are her colleagues, graduate students and teaching assistants, but many of her biggest admirers are the students who took just one compulsory course with her. Some of them don’t even love statistics (sad but true) but years later they remember her fondly as a lecturer who brought the subject to life with interesting examples from her own work and presented it with clarity and insight.

Aya, I wish you frosty weather, good health and free-flowing chi in your retirement.

Jacqueline Asscher

Tribute to a long friendship

Dearest Aya, Shalom,

I feel privileged to have been able to keep alive our friendship of forty six years, through the ups and downs of life and work. I feel particularly lucky that in the past few years we have even managed to share out thoughts on consulting and other work. I have learnt much from you in those sessions with your students and collaborators, and have tried to implement what I learnt here at Baruch. Of course what I could hardly emulate is the infinite energy and intuition you bring to the table, and the dedication that you inspire in your students and collaborators.

I am confident that even though you formally retire now, you shall continue to pour your energy into research projects that interest you, and the old-world humanity of allowing people to retire, and yet continue with their most prized pursuits, will allow you to barely change your pace, and allow me to still enjoy our meetings as before.

I am sorry not to be able to be present at your retirement party, but shall look forward to seeing you in January, in the usual venue…


Lehitraot be-karov,

Shula

לאיה - מנהלת, מורת דרך וחברה

איה היקרה,

אתחיל מהבעת תקווה שאני אזכה לעבוד איתך בשנים הבאות עם שובי לטכניון בקרוב.
חזרתי לארץ ב1998 והתחלתי לעבוד במעבדה לסטטיסטיקה בטכניון. העבודה היתה מעניינת ומהנה וקיבלתי בונוס לא צפוי - החברות והעזרה של מנהלת המעבדה. תודה רבה על היחס החם והאישי שהייתי מאד זקוק לו אז. תודה על כל ההתייעצויות בהחלטות שהיה עלי לקחת לכל אורך הדרך. חשוב לי תמיד להתייעץ איתך, כי את לא רק יודעת מה עדיף לעשות מבחינה מקצועית, אלא מה עדיף לי לעשות מבחינה מקצועית.
תרמת המון למעבדה, למחקר, בהנחיית סטודנטים ובהוראה, ואני מקווה שתמשיכי לעשות כך שנים רבות.

באהבה,
רותי

איה המיוחדת

איה היקרה, אני שמחה שניתנת לי הזדמנות לכתוב לך כמה את יקרה לי ועד כמה אני מרגישה ברת מזל שהייתי סטודנטית שלך בעבר וחברה שלך בהווה. טוב שיש אירועים שונים בחיינו המאפשרים לנו לעשות דברים חורגים משגרת היום יום כמו לכתוב בבלוג דברים שכולם יכולים לראות, ללא קשר למיקומם הגיאוגרפי. ואם האירוע נקרא "לצאת לפנסיה" שיהיה... הרי כולם יודעים שאת ו"יציאה לפנסיה" לא מסתדרים יחד.... אני חושבת שאת אישה יוצאת דופן מהרבה בחינות: את יכולה להוות דוגמא לצניעות שלא מאפיינת הרבה אנשי אקדמיה. כשהנחית אותי בעבודת הדוקטורט הרגשתי שעשינו למידה משותפת, שוויונית ומעצימה. הייתה לי הזכות להיחשף בשיחותינו השונות לערכים שבהם את מאמינה בתחומי חיים שונים וללמוד ממך על ה"אומנות" של להיות הורים, על הנחישות של התמודדת עם קשיים שונים ועל האכפתיות כלפי חברים ומכרים. אני מאחלת לך שתמשיכי עוד שנים רבות להתמודד, בהתלהבות המאפיינת אותך, עם אתגרי חשיבה וכתיבה חדשים וליהנות ממשפחתך ומחבריך. אוהבת אותך ושולחת ד"ש חמה מאדמונטון שבקנדה, אסתר בריינין

Congratulations and best wishes

I met Aya in 1984 when I was teaching a course in Switzerland and she was on a sabbatical there.  It was a pleasure to have her sit in my class.  Of course, she wasn't a student and gave me some helpful suggestions.  I so appreciated her invitation to present a seminar in Haifa and the kind hospitality she and her husband showed my wife, my children and me at her home.  

Aya, I hope your retirement gives you the time to enjoy simple pleasures and to stay active doing the things you love to do, always in the best of health.  Elaine and I send you our very best wishes.

Stan Lemeshow

From Ester Samuel Cahn

Dear Ayala,

I cannot believe that you have already reached retiring age! Wasn't it only yesterday, or maybe the day before, that you were my student in Jerushalaim? But don't worry, there is life also after retirement! And actually, the life is very much the same as before! You do more or less the same, only you can now be much more flexible with the time schedule!

You should be very proud of your career, your students, your statistical advising and all you have achieved, and I wish you lots of continued success in the future, with good health and happiness, AD MEAH VE'ESRIM!

Ester

דלת פתוחה

איה היא מנחה מיוחדת. זכיתי להיות סטודנטית של איה בלימודי התואר השני והדוקטורט. איה יודעת לשלב בצורה יוצאת דופן הנחייה מקצועית ביותר עם אווירה חברית ומשפחתית.
כשהיגעתי למשרדה של איה בתחילת לימודי בטכניון איה אמרה לי ש"דלתה תמיד פתוחה". וזה הסתבר כנכון כל כך. בכל שאלה מחקרית או עניין אישי הרגשתי נוח לבוא למשרדה להתייעץ, ללמוד, או לקבל עידוד.
למדתי מאיה המון. בסבלנות אין סופית איה הייתה יושבת איתי במשרדה ומלמדת אותי נושאים סטטיסטים רבים שהיו קשורים לעבודת המחקר, שעות ארוכות ביליתי במשרדה וכתב ידה כיכב על ערמות של דפים שלקחתי הביתה.
גם כאשר מצאנו פתרונות טובים לבעיות שעלו במחקר, איה עדיין המשיכה לחשוב ולנסות למצוא פתרונות טובים יותר. זכורות לי פעמים רבות בהן איה סיפרה לי בהתלהבות רבה כי בזמן טיול הבוקר בים מצאה פתרון "יפה יותר" לבעיה שהעסיקה אותנו.
לא רק דלתה של איה פתוחה אלא גם ביתה פתוח. בימים בהם המזגן בטכניון לא פעל איה הייתה מזמינה אותי לביתה (לא לשכוח סוודר...) ושם, עם עוגת פירות יבשים חתוכה דק דק, או עוגת ביסקוויטים וקרם, היינו יושבות לעבוד.
דלתה של איה נשארה פתוחה בפני ובפני משפחתי גם לאחר סיום לימודי בטכניון. התייעצנו איתה רבות, גם כאשר חיינו בארצות הברית, ועצותיה הכנות היו וימשיכו להיות לנו לעזר רב