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Tom Fawcett was a data scientist whose work joined analytical rigor with practical problem-solving. In a 2020 memorial, his friend and long-time collaborator Foster Provost remembers their work together at NYNEX Science and Technology, a telecommunications-network analysis that grew into a large rehabilitation effort, and Fawcett’s generosity as a colleague. The professional history and personal qualities below are Provost’s first-person recollections.
Who was Tom Fawcett?
Fawcett (1958–2020) was a data scientist whom Provost describes as a substantial contributor to data science over three decades. Provost writes that they began working together in 1994 at NYNEX Science and Technology, which later became Verizon. Fawcett was his main day-to-day professional partner there until both left for other jobs in late 1999.
In his memorial, Provost characterizes Fawcett as diligent and unusually productive, as well as kind, thoughtful, and caring. These are the observations of a close colleague and friend, not an independent assessment.
How did their network analysis become practical action?
Testing a suspected cause
Provost recalls investigating poor service on a telecommunications network. Fawcett analyzed whether humidity was contributing to the problems and found no significant effect. As Provost remembers his presentation, Fawcett added: “Humidity does not seem to have a significant effect on problems in the network. And oh by the way, it wasn’t more humid last year.” The two then moved on to root-cause analysis.
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Modeling rehabilitation work
Provost says they developed a model to predict the effects of individual network rehabilitation actions. It combined tens of thousands of locally focused regressions, connecting detailed local analysis to decisions about what work to undertake. According to Provost, they were told the predictions directed a billion-dollar rehabilitation campaign; he also recalls a retrospective evaluation finding the predictions “almost perfect” and says the team received the company’s President’s Award.
Those scale and performance claims are reported in Provost’s memorial account. The memorial does not provide an independent evaluation, the campaign’s underlying records, or details of the award, so they should be understood as his recollection rather than separately verified results.
What does Provost remember about Fawcett’s later work?
After their shared day-to-day work ended, Provost says Fawcett continued combining data science with practice at California-based companies over the following twenty years. The two also continued writing together. The memorial does not name those companies or specify the publications, so it supports the broad description of that continuing work rather than a fuller project-by-project account.
When did Tom Fawcett die?
Provost’s memorial gives Fawcett’s life years as 1958–2020 and reports that he died on June 4, 2020, in a bicycle accident. These biographical details, like the project recollections, are presented here as reported in that memorial.
Read Foster Provost’s full memorial to Tom Fawcett at KDnuggets.
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