Sujit Kumar Mitra obtained his PhD (1956) from University of North Carolina, USA specializing in mathematical statistics. He served as the Distinguished Scientist (Emeritus), Professor of Statistics, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi; Visiting Professor, Department of Mathematics, Indiana University, Bloomington; Department of Statistics, Purdue University; Programmes in Mathematical Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas; Department of Administration Engineering, Keio University of Japan.

Academic and Research Achievements: Mitra had worked on: tolerance limits for normal distributions, effect of non-normality on variables sampling plans, unbiased estimation in power series distributions, integration of sample surveys, asymptotic power or frequency chi-square surveys, asymptotic power or frequency chi-square tests, Cornish-Fisher type expansions related to the variance ration distribution, characterization of the Wishart distribution, density-free treatment of the Wishart distribution, density-free treatment of the matrix variate beta distribution, singular linear models, generalized inverse of matrices and matrix operations induced by electrical networks, and matrix partial orders.

Other Contributions: Mitra was a Member, Council, International Statistical Institute (1995-89). He co-authored Generalized Inverse of Matrices and its Applications (Wiley, 1971); co-edited Glimpses of India’s Statistical Heritage (Wiley Eastern, 1992), Statistics and Probability – A Raghu Raj Bahadur and Festschrift (Wiley Eastern, 1993) Formulae and Tables of Statistical Work (Stat. Pub. Soc., Calcutta). He was the editor, Sankhya; member, editorial board of Gujarat Stat Rev and Journal of Indian Society Agricultural Statistics.

Awards and Honours: Mitra was a Fellow, Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore.