He received a Master of Arts in 1965 and a PhD degree in 1966, both in statistics, from Harvard University.
[1][2][3] Chambers started at Bell Laboratories in 1966 as a member of its technical staff.
[1][3] In 1989, he moved back to full-time research and in 1995, he became a distinguished member of the technical staff.
[1][3] In 1997, he was made the first Fellow of Bell Labs and was cited for "pioneering contributions to the field of statistical computing".
[1] He remained a distinguished member of the technical staff and a Fellow until his retirement from Bell Labs in 2005.