Cavell Brownie Scholar Sydeaka Watson (center) receives her Stat Bowl second-place award from Stephanie Cano and Mike Anderson.

The Cavell Brownie Scholars JSM Mentoring Program had its inaugural run at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Vancouver, BC, from August 1–4. This program pairs diverse graduate students and postdocs with faculty who provide pointers on how to prepare for a faculty career. It also builds community among scholars from under-represented groups.

Six graduate students and postdoctoral scholars were named 2010 Cavell Brownie Scholars: Deidra Coleman of North Carolina State University, Sulgi Kim of the University of Washington, Eddy Kwessi of Auburn University, Adriana Ordonez of the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Che Smith of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Sydeaka Watson of Baylor University.

The scholars met with faculty mentors from liberal arts colleges, research-extensive universities, and university health science centers. Faculty mentors included Lloyd Edwards of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sarah Baraniuk of The University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Monica Jackson of American University, Nedret Billor of Auburn University, and Kim Weems of North Carolina State University. They shared personal experiences, advice, and information and participated in a roundtable discussion on best practices for mentoring minority graduate students.

Additionally, Sonia Ruiz of KEI, Inc. led a session about the imposter syndrome and the effects of stereotype threat, and Watson, Edwards, Smith, Baraniuk, Eddy Kwessi, and Jacqueline Hughes-Oliver presented information about the history of women and minorities in statistics, the status of minorities today, and contributions statisticians of color have made to statistics.

The scholars also were well-represented in technical sessions at JSM. Watson placed second in the ASA Stat Bowl; Smith and Watson presented posters on statistical computing and Bayesian statistics, respectively; and Coleman gave an oral presentation on “omics.”

The program is named after Cavell Brownie, professor emeritus of the North Carolina State University Department of Statistics. Brownie specialized in biometric methods, wildlife sampling, and statistical consulting from 1982 until she retired in 2008. She was born in Jamaica and served as an important mentor to generations of graduate students and junior faculty.