R’s Quiet Architect Wins Global Honor | Des Moines News

A newly retired University of Iowa professor, Luke Tierney, is being honored with half a million dollars and global acclaim as one of five recipients of the prestigious Rousseeuw Prize for Statistics — a Nobel-level award for statisticians. For nearly three decades, Tierney has quietly shaped R, the free, open-source data analysis powerhouse, by stabilizing its core and enabling millions of users worldwide. He credits R’s success to its collaborative, community-driven model, where mistakes are quickly fixed and innovation thrives. Even as AI and Python rise, R remains vital — and Tierney, now retired, plans to keep contributing, using his prize money to attract new talent and sustain the project. His message? Passion and collaboration trump paychecks — and building with others is far more rewarding than going it alone. Listen in comfort:Get a discount on a Soli Pillow: http://solipillow.com/discount/dnn. Advertise on DNN:[email protected] This is an automated, high-level news summary based on public reporting.Report issues to [email protected]. View sources & latest updates:https://sources.thednn.ai/ff747f439e9e928d