Friends and colleagues

A friend of many years standing, Stephen Atherton, has worked for Apple Australia for long enough to qualify as an Apple sage.

At one point I had a bit to do with the Australian Catholic University (ACU) . One of my ventures there, as part of a project coordinated by John Barletta, was to analyse data from a marriage preparation instrument. John used to lecture on counselling and provide clinical supervision at ACU but as can be seen by clicking on the link, now operates a private practice.

Anthony Bloesch, a very bright computer scientist and friend while a postgraduate student at the University of Queensland, now works at Microsoft.

I've known Jonathan Dwyer since 1988 when we both did fourth year Psychology at the University of Queensland. He went on to do a PhD that focused on the limits of exploratory factor analysis techniques (by examining the numbers of factors, etc, produced under controlled conditions (central tendency, variance) under Monte Carlo randomisations of those datasets. Jonathan encouraged me to take up statistics tutoring, which eventually led to the work that I do nowadays. Jonathan, in contrast, after completing the PhD became interested in clinical work (therapising), and has worked as a therapist for some time now.

I worked very closely with Craig Shaw throughout my PhD at the University of Queensland. Subsequent to completing his doctorate he worked in a number of commercial settings including SPSS Australia, where he consulted on the use of data mining software. Craig now works as Deputy Risk Director for a subsidiary of Barclays Bank in the Stockholm area of Sweden. Curiously enough for such an outgoing fellow, while Craig can be found online via LinkedIn and FaceBook, other net searches reveal only doppelgangers.

I met Bill Wrigley (his website/s out of action at moment) while he was completing a PhD in education from Griffith University. The PhD focussed on assessment issues in the area of musical education. He had previously worked as Clinical and Consulting Psychologist over a period of about 20 years. While completing his PhD, Bill mastered the use of AMOS for SEM analysis to a high degree, and went on to work at the UQ Medical School for two years as a medical educator, evaluating the assessment system in the clinical years. He relocated to Holland, and is at the moment still living and working there. Bill is interested in making music amongst other things.

The website of another statistically literate friend who has assisted generations of academics and postgraduates as a freelance statistics advisor, Geoff Smith, appeared, disappeared, and hasn't been seen since.

A fellow PhD student at the University of Queensland, who combines an interest in the links between brain activity and hypnosis, and who is also a teacher of martial arts, Graham Jamieson, works nowadays as a Psychology academic at the University of New England. From time to time Graham contacts me to share yet another statistical puzzle as he continues to wrestle with the connections between brain activity and hypnotic states, and more recently meditation.

I've more recently worked at Eidos and elsewhere in the fine company of Walter Robb (now in UAE), who has a lifetime of experience in things statistical and methodological. Walter and his wife, Lyndal, offer a range of services related to the management and use of information, but are presently in Abu Dhabi, where Walter is working as Co Manager, Population and Social Statistics Department at the Statistics Centre of Abu Dhabi.

Peter Grimbeek