Image: Congratulations Blake Gee! The Department of Statistics is happy to announce Mr. Blake Gee as the recipient of the 2025 James David Lifsey Graduate Fellowship in Statistics and Data Science. Blake is a UGA "Double Dawg", meaning that he will finish his bachelor's and master's degrees in an accelerated five-year program. A double major in economics and statistics as an undergraduate, Blake is now in the master's program in data science and is on track to earn his MS in May 2026. Congratulations to Blake, and thank you to Mr. Lifsey for his continued generosity and support of the UGA Department of Statistics! About David Lifsey: James David Lifsey was born June 6, 1935, in Montezuma, Macon County, Georgia. He completed twelve years of public school education at Montezuma High School and graduated valedictorian of his senior class in May 1953. Attending the University of Georgia, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics and economics in 1957 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force through the University’s Air Force ROTC program. Active-duty military service included an academic year at Texas A&M University where he completed a major in meteorology before serving as a Weather Officer with the Military Air Transport Service. In 1960, when released from active duty with the Air Force, he returned to the University of Georgia and, under the guidance of Dr. A.C. Cohen, Jr., earned a Master of Arts degree in Statistics in 1961. He retired from the US Air Force Reserve in 1987 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel completing his final reserve assignment at the Foreign Technology Division of Air Force Systems Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio. Following a short career as a statistician with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Huntsville, Alabama, he earned, in 1974, and MBA degree in finance at the University of Dallas (Texas) and subsequently formed a statistical consultancy in Atlanta, Georgia from which he retired in 2000. In addition, from 1990 to 2000, as an Adjunct Professor, he taught courses in statistics at Georgia State University, Mercer University (Atlanta), and Georgia Perimeter College. Type of News/Audience: Departmental
