Jiayang Sun, Helen Zhang, Jessica Kohlschmidt, and Monica Johnston

The invited session Extraordinary Impact of Statistics, organized by the Caucus for Women in Statistics, will take place at the Joint Statistical Meetings at 4 p.m. on July 31 and feature four distinguished leaders in statistics. The following four speakers will talk about important statistical ideas and pivotal roles that statistics and statisticians have played in scientific discovery and social progress, as well as emerging challenges to statistics:  

David Siegmund, the John T. and Sigrid Banks Professor of Statistics at Stanford University, will review important ideas in statistics. He has humbly titled his talk as “A Short History of Statistical Ideas.” 

Heike Hofmann, professor of statistics from Iowa State University, will give a talk titled “Cutting-Edge Research in Modern Statistical Sciences: Modern Tools and Impact in Data Science.” 

Sally Morton, professor and chair of biostatistics at the University of Pittsburgh and soon-to-be dean of the Virginia Tech College of Science, will give the talk “Women in Statistics: Past, Present, and Future.” 

The discussant will be Xiao-Li Meng, dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He will provide a discussion, along with new insights, lessons learned, and unique perspectives in his usual enlightening style.

For more information about the Caucus of Women in Statistics, email support@cwstat.org.

This special session was organized by the Caucus for Women in Statistics and is cosponsored by the ASA Committee on Career Development and the Joint Committee on Women in the Mathematical Sciences.