The ASA Committee on International Relations in Statistics is seeking qualified nationals from Cuba, Mexico, Nepal, and/or Vietnam to serve as 2019 Educational Ambassadors. In 2019, the ASA will select two educational ambassadors to receive funding to attend the Joint Statistical Meetings and take one or more continuing education (CE) courses in an emerging area of research. The ambassadors will then return to disseminate the subject matter in their home country and/or region.

The application deadline is November 30.

Selected ambassadors will be expected to complete the following by December 2020:

• Attend the 2019 Joint Statistical Meetings in Denver, Colorado, to take CE courses in an emerging area of statistics research (search for Continuing Education Courses under the Advanced Search tab in the online program to view CE courses offered in 2018).
• Return to their home country and, within the next year, offer the equivalent of a one-semester master’s-level class with no fewer than 10 students on the subject matter of the CE course and write lecture notes in the language locally deemed most appropriate. Ambassadors are expected to repeat the offering at least once. The committee understands there can be practical and organizational considerations that make this a challenging requirement, so we are prepared to work with the ambassadors to devise an appropriate plan. The ASA will also investigate the possibility of providing further assistance through recorded webinars related to the CE course material.
• Provide periodic updates and submit a final report by December 2020 to the ASA through the Committee on International Relations in Statistics and the ambassador’s home institution. The report should describe how the transfer of knowledge was accomplished and how the ambassador invited statisticians from their country to work with them on the subject matter of their course.

The ASA will arrange and pay for the selected ambassadors’ airfare, hotel, meeting registration, and CE course registration. The ASA also will reimburse the visa application fee and provide a $500 stipend.

Candidates for the ambassadorship must hold a PhD or equivalent degree in statistics or a related field and be employed at the level of assistant or associate professor at a recognized university or research organization promoting the teaching and application of statistics.

Interested candidates should send the following to committee chair Geert Molenberghs:

1. A curriculum vitae
2. A proposal (at most two pages) describing how the ambassadorship will help disseminate knowledge of statistics in your country and how the ASA’s expectations set forth above will be implemented upon your return home
3. A letter from the head of your academic unit (e.g., department chair, director, or dean) indicating institutional support for your dissemination plan