Thanks to Stephanie Zimmer for this submission to Grandma got STEM.
Gertrude Cox was the first head of the Department of Experimental Statistics in the School of Agriculture at North Carolina State College (a forerunner of the Department of Statistics at the now North Carolina State University). When George Snedecor was asked for recommendations for the position, he had a list of all male faculty but added at the end “If you would consider a woman for this position, I would recommend Gertrude Cox of my staff.” She was a pioneer in statistics; her biography can be found here.
Grandma Got STEM 