Student Comments
Statistics 567: Statistical Reliability

Dr. Leon,

As my ideal career path is in industry and manufacturing, Reliability is a course I have been looking forward to taking. It certainly lived up to my expectations as a very applied course. Dr. León did a great job presenting real world examples and sharing many of his person past experiences in this area of statistics. Through these examples he made it easy for me to see the applications and usefulness of this subject. Perhaps the one aspect I appreciated the most about this class was the fact that Dr. León seemed to take a genuine interest in whether we really understood the material and became comfortable with it.

One example of this is the relatively weak background in statistical theory that the majority of the class had at the beginning of the semester. Because of this, Dr. León supplemented his reliability materials with much of the applicable statistical theory we were lacking even though that knowledge was a prerequisite for his course. As painful as it was to learn more theory, I very much appreciate Dr. León's insistence on our understanding it as it allowed me to better grasp the applied aspects of the course.

All in all, I thought Reliability was an excellent course. Dr. León is to credit for this as he presented material in an interesting way, gave reasonable work and test assignments, and welcomed comments and suggestions from the students. Not only did I learn quite a bit from this class, I can honestly say that I had fun taking it.
Fall 2000

Fall 2000

Dear Dr Leon,

I really enjoyed Statistics 567, Reliability.

I think the course contained more theoretical concepts than I was originally
expecting, but it helped reinforce those concepts. The use of different
distributions and Log likelihood are fundamental concepts in Statistics.

I really liked learning to use SLIDA and thought it was extremely helpful in
understanding what was happening (looking at the pictures/graphs) to our
functions. I thought that the JMP tutorials not only were helpful in
completing the assignments but they really increased my knowledge of
Reliability.

I think I had to work a little harder than I thought I would have to, and I
was worried at the beginning of the course, but I feel like I got a lot out of
the course and really learned a lot and reinforced some other statistical
concepts that I will need.

I enjoyed your teaching style and sense of humor, and thought you really
connected with the students. I would recommend your course to anyone, but
would warn them they would have to work in your course.

Fall 2000

Dr Leon,

The course is great in general and my only suggestion is:
Add one lecture about "soft" side (planning, management etc. ) of reliability study. I think this will help us to know the big picture better and perhaps answer some interview question or prepare for CRE. You mentioned you had written a book about this, so it would be nice if you can extract some of the material from you book and condense the material into one lecture.

Again, thanks for the great course.

Fall 2000

Dr. Leon in one the few professors that I can truly state cared about his students learning of the material. He left time open within the general framework of the class to adjust for any weaknesses the students had and made sure they were all on even ground before going further. Most professors become very rigid within their courses and leave students in the dust.

In addition to Dr. Leon's classroom manner, he also has put in numerous hours outside the classroom assuring a wonderful learning environment. His website is full of links to other reliabilty material, computer software that specializes in this analysis, and his own JMP tutorials that bring points from the class into focus. I can not imagine the time and preparation that went into amassing this information, but it was definitely appreciated.

Even if a student is unsure about reliability analysis or industrial statistics, they will have no other choice than to really learn the material given Leon's infectious style. He really likes what he is doing and it shows. I, personally, will probably never use this material in my life, but I do not regret taking the class. In fact, I am glad I did because I now have another tool in my box if needed, and because of the teaching, that tool is very sharp.

Fall 2000

I wanted to let you know that I enjoyed your class. A combination of two
things, I think, detracted from my personal maximum benefit in the course.
One, I was ready to leave Knoxville and get started with a new life. I tried
really hard to concentrate, but some days I just couldn't do it. Second, the
I found Dr. Meekers notes (although, I'm sure technically accurate and
thorough) distracting. The flow of the notes wasn't as good as it could of
been and I think that effected the flow of the course.

I now have the Paul Allison book you recommended and I'm thoroughly enjoying
it. I wish I had known that this cancer research was going to be my bread and
butter for the next few years while I was taking your course. I'm sure it
would have helped my concentration and increased my class comments which you
seemed to enjoy.

I would like to talk with you regarding my work in the future if you would
like. There are a lot of questions that I've got about the way M.D.'s do
survival analysis and I consider you to be the best person with which to
discuss these matters. The amazing thing about this job is that down the
road, I'm probably going to be publishing in several medical journals! For my
background and interests, I don't think I could have found a better job. It's
also good to have a decent paycheck now.

Take care and I look forward to hearing from you.

Fall 2000

Fall 2000