Born in the cornfields of Indiana, young Graham Blatz wanted to see the world, so he went to the cornfields of Ohio. There, he attended Bowling Green State University, learned all about statistics and design of experiments and had no idea how much this would change his life. Now he’s First Solar’s resident statistician for its Development Engineering department and has been for his entire adult life because they won’t let him leave.
JMP has been his medium of analytical expression for 15 years. You could say he likes it. While arguably a capable analyst, in his sunset years, Blatz finds much joy in enabling his fellow engineers to revel in their own experiments and data; removing barriers to analysis via scripting, clever visualization, good experimental design; and teaching others about any statistical concept they aren’t comfortable with. He loathes the idea of job security just because he knows things other people don’t know and works every day to make sure he’s perfectly fireable.
In his theoretical spare time, he plays piano, pets his cats, and wishes he could be Will Shortz.
