Sylvia Rose Esterby is a Canadian environmental statistician known for her research on

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

. She is an associate professor emeritus at the

University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus) The UBC's Okanagan Campus (commonly referred to as UBC Okanagan and UBCO) is University of British Columbia's campus located in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The campus is the research and innovation hub in the province's southern interio ...

, a founder of the International Environmetrics Society, an elected member of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...

, and a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The number of new fellows per year is limited ...

Education and career

Esterby obtained her Ph.D. in 1976 from the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

. Her dissertation was ''The Role of Environmental Lead in Human Disease Processes'', supervised by W. F. Forbes. She joined the University of British Columbia in 2000, after previously working as a researcher at the

National Water Research Institute The National Water Research Institute (NWRI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, located in California, was founded in 1991. It is devoted to promoting the protection, maintenance, and restoration of water supplies through collaborative resea ...

Environment Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; french: Environnement et Changement climatique Canada),Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment ( ...

Burlington, Ontario Burlington is a city in the Regional Municipality of Halton at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Along with Milton to the north, it forms the western end of the Greater Toronto Area and is also part of the Hamilton met ...

Service

Esterby became a founding member of the board of directors of the International Environmetrics Society in 1989, and drafted the constitution of the society. She was president of the society in 2001. Since 2008 the society has been an official section of the

. She served as the president of the Biostatistics Section of the

Statistical Society of Canada The Statistical Society of Canada (SSC) (french: Société statistique du Canada) is a professional organization whose mission is to promote the use and development of statistics and probability. Its objectives are * to make the general public aw ...

for 1995–1996.

Recognition

Esterby is an elected member of the

. She was elected as a Fellow of the

American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on November 27, 1839, and is the second oldest continuousl ...

in 2013. In the same year the International Environmetrics Society gave her their Distinguished Service Award "in grateful recognition of passionate and pioneering leadership in developing and promoting environmental and ecological statistics, and of active, professional service throughout the lifetime of The International Environmetrics Society (TIES), including being a Member of the TIES Founding Board of Directors." The Sylvia Esterby Presentation Award of the International Environmetrics Society was established in her name in 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esterby, Sylvia R. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian statisticians Women statisticians University of Waterloo alumni Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Fellows of the American Statistical Association Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute