[1 Mar 2024 | 2 Comments | 1,182 views]
Celebrating Women in Statistics and Data Science

In honor of Women’s History Month, we are once again celebrating ASA women who work in statistics and data science. These 11 accomplished women were chosen because they are leaders and mentors to many in their field.

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Additional Features »

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Managed by the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Education, GROW is intended to provide support for undergraduate students considering graduate studies in the mathematical sciences.

A Statistician's Life, Celebrating Women in Statistics »

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As a labor economist, Julia Lane is driven by practical questions such as “What is the return on investment in on-the-job training?” Her interest in data and statistics led to innovative methods combining diverse data sources and addressing bias and measurement issues. Passionate about public good, she co-founded programs such as the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program, PatentsView, and the Coleridge Initiative. Her latest is a data search and discovery platform called Democratizing Data. Lane’s significant contributions extend to empowering women with remote access facilities and eliminating child care barriers. Among her achievements, she takes pride in her Nature article, “Women Are Credited Less in Science Than Men,” emphasizing the crucial role of statistics in understanding selection bias and highlighting implications for science policy.

Additional Features, My ASA Story »

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Julia Schedler’s ASA story began when some of her peers went to the Joint Statistical Meetings and had a blast. Eventually, she went to see what it was all about.

A Statistician's Life, Additional Features, Celebrating Women in Statistics »

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When Susan Paddock started her undergraduate degree, two pivotal courses—health care reform and women’s health—introduced her to epidemiological literature and cost–benefit analysis, steering her toward a major in math and biostatistics. After earning her PhD from Duke, Paddock joined the RAND Corporation, where she applied statistical methods to health policy research. Notably, she contributed to designing a Medicare payment system for inpatient rehabilitation facilities, affecting federal programs and congressional deliberations. Since 2019, Paddock has held a leadership role at NORC at the University of Chicago, overseeing a diverse team of statisticians, survey methodologists, and data scientists working on national issues. She was also involved in testing the safety of self-driving cars. Collaborating with Nidhi Kalra of RAND in 2016, she highlighted the inadequacy of existing road tests to ensure public safety, drawing attention from a US Senate committee. Their paper on this topic stands as her most frequently cited work, showcasing the power of statistical thinking in addressing crucial societal concerns.

Chapter News, Member News, San Francisco Bay Area »

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The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter held its holiday celebration at San Jose State University. Keynote speakers James Zou, Jian Dai, and Viji Krishnamurthy—along with panelist Haiyan Huang—shared their insights into the transformative effect of large language models such as ChatGPT.

Additional Features, Science Policy »

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To strengthen the connection between the statistical community and National Science Foundation, we asked NSF program officer Samuel Scheiner about the Division of Environmental Biology. NSF also funded an initiative by Ali Rahnavard and Keith Crandall to study SARS-CoV-2’s evolution. Here, they discuss what their research will accomplish and offer advice about applying for NSF funding.

Additional Features, Science Policy »

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As part of its science policy work, the ASA organized a congressional briefing in January to highlight the role of statistics and research in informing criminal justice policymaking. Moderated by Greg Ridgeway, the virtual event featured Nancy La Vigne, director of the National Institute of Justice, and Kevin Scott, acting director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

People News »

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Peihua Qiu, Garrett B. Duncan, Xingruo Zhang, and Kristin Gaffney were featured in the news this month.

Member News, Section News, Statistical Computing, Statistical Graphics »

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The student award recipients will present their work in a topic-contributed session during the 2024 Joint Statistical Meetings in August.

A Statistician's Life, Additional Features, Celebrating Women in Statistics »

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Hailing from Trinidad and Tobago, Charmaine B. Dean’s academic journey was shaped by her mother’s emphasis on getting an education, even though her mother was prevented from getting one herself. Dean’s affinity for mathematics, and particularly statistics, flourished during her undergraduate years and aligned with her desire to make a tangible impact. Currently, she provides strategic direction in research, innovation, and international collaboration at the University of Waterloo. She considers her engagement in interdisciplinary research one of her greatest achievements, particularly her research in fire science, which has allowed her to collaborate with scientists, government agencies, and fire crews.

Award Deadlines and Information »

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The Jeanne E. Griffith Mentoring Award recognizes and encourages mentoring junior staff in the statistical community in federal, state, or local government.

A Statistician's Life, Additional Features, Celebrating Women in Statistics »

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Regina Liu grew up in Taiwan with an interest in pursuing applied mathematics and actuary science, but she fell in love with probability and statistics instead. She earned a PhD in statistics from Columbia University and became an assistant professor at Rutgers University. Now a distinguished professor at Rutgers, she has established herself as an outstanding researcher and is praised for providing exceptional service to the statistics and data science profession. She has served as an editor for many journals and was president of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics from 2020–2021. She has dedicated much effort to the outreach and promotion of junior researchers and under-represented groups and is credited for making the Rutgers Statistics Department the well-known and nurturing place it is today.

A Statistician's Life, Additional Features, Celebrating Women in Statistics »

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While a math student at Vassar, Deborah Nolan was first exposed to statistics during a summer internship during which she helped analyze data from a survey in a women’s magazine about how family life had changed as more women became breadwinners. That experience convinced her to stay away from statistics and stick with the comfortable world of theoretical math. After graduating, she worked for IBM and learned how to code in several languages. It was her work as an applications programmer that brought Nolan back to the world of statistics, and she went on to earn a PhD in the field. Since then, Nolan has earned multiple awards for her dedication to teaching, including the ASA Waller Distinguished Teaching Career Award and Berkley’s Distinguished Teaching Award. She co-developed the first data science course at Berkeley and played a pivotal role in designing the data science major, leading to the establishment of the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society. Currently serving as the inaugural associate dean, Nolan is instrumental in meeting the growing demand for data science education, with nearly 1,000 students graduating annually with a data science major from Berkeley.

A Statistician's Life, Additional Features, Celebrating Women in Statistics »

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Maria DeYoreo developed a passion for swimming, running, and math when she was a child living in the Bay Area in California. While majoring in mathematics at UC Santa Barbara, she discovered her love for statistics when she attended an applied course using R. As a professional statistician at RAND, DeYoreo focuses on using statistical methods to inform public policy related to health and health care. In addition to her professional success, DeYoreo takes pride in her role as a parent to two young children and recently achieving a personal running record of a 1:35 half marathon.

Additional Features »

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Advocacy day brings together social and behavioral scientists and science advocates from across the country to engage with policymakers.

Additional Features, Science Policy »

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In keeping with our tradition of interviewing leaders from the federal government, we spoke with a West Point professor, Col. Nicholas Clark, who specializes in teaching statistics to military personnel.

Government Statistics, Member News, Section News, Social Statistics, Survey Research Methods »

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The winners are anticipated to attend the Joint Statistical Meetings; present their work; and participate in the sections’ business meetings to formally receive their awards.

JEDI Corner »

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The JEDI Outreach Group held a webinar titled “Building Successful Mentor/Mentee Relationships in the Hybrid Work Era.” Panelists shared their ideas and perspectives through questions posed by the moderators and audience.

Award Deadlines and Information »

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The award is given by the ASA to a person or team that does the most to enhance the teaching and learning of causal inference in statistics.

A Statistician's Life, Additional Features, Celebrating Women in Statistics »

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Ginger Holt’s journey into the world of statistics and data science began in Fort Worth, Texas, fueled by a family passion for education. She pursued an undergraduate degree in industrial engineering at Texas A&M University and eventually earned a PhD in statistics from Rice University. She loved her first job as assistant professor at the University of Virginia but did not love pursuing research funding, so she transitioned into industry work. Currently at DataBricks, Holt plays a pivotal role in unifying forecasting processes across different domains. Leading her team, she focuses on building tooling in data engineering and data science, aiming to make these processes scalable not only for DataBricks but also for its customers. Her favorite aspect of a career in data science is its ability to foster new learning opportunities.

A Statistician's Life, Additional Features, Celebrating Women in Statistics »

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Jennifer Hill developed an early interest in math and pursued economics in college. However, after working in the corporate world, she went back to school for graduate degrees from Rutgers and Harvard that allowed her to focus on causal inference and social policy. Currently professor of applied statistics at NYU Steinhardt, Hill has created software that makes it easier for applied researchers to use sophisticated methods in a way that helps them have a deeper understanding of what methods they are using and why. She notes, “Answering real questions with real data is the best and biggest challenge there is.”

Additional Features, GiveASA »

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The ASA GivesBack group chose to focus their first project of 2024 on the generosity of ASA members. Read the selection of the stories submitted from ASA members about how they chose to give back in 2023.

A Statistician's Life, Additional Features, Celebrating Women in Statistics »

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Nancy Reid initially intended to become a computer scientist because it was rumored to be the “future.” Instead, during her undergraduate years, she discovered she enjoyed statistics. She went on to pursue an MSc at the University of British Columbia, after which she expected to find a ‘real job.’ However, when she did her research thesis, she became hooked on research. In fact, the research environment was so exciting to her she has dedicated her entire career to academia. Still, Reid said she values the influence she has on her students the most.

Member News, Obituaries, People News »

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ASA members Barbara A. Bailar, Carol Joyce Blumberg, and Johannes Ledolter passed away recently.

Additional Features »

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Elinor Jones, Lucia Barbone, and Kelly H. Zou discussed their experiences as women collaborating with researchers and stakeholders during an hour-long panel as part of the International Day for Women in Statistics and Data Science celebration on October 10, 2023.

Health Policy Statistics, Meetings »

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The International Conference on Health Policy Statistics provides a forum for practitioners, health service researchers, statistical methodologists, health economists, and policy analysts to discuss research needs and solutions to methodological challenges in study design and data analysis for health policy research.

Additional Features, Celebrating Women in Statistics »

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In honor of Women’s History Month, three former ASA presidents share career highlights, role models, and invaluable advice.

A Statistician's Life, Additional Features, Celebrating Women in Statistics »

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Millennia Young’s favorite subject while growing up was math. She loved solving problems and knowing she had the correct answer, even if the answer was “does not exist.” After high school, she went on to study applied mathematics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and it was there she was introduced to statistics. “Although both disciplines use math to model what is happening in the world,” she wrote, “statistics provided unique insights.” Before she started her PhD, she had two children, and by the time she defended, she had three. Although she struggled, she kept going. Eventually, she landed her dream job—leading the biostatistics lab for human health and performance at NASA.

A Statistician's Life, Additional Features, Celebrating Women in Statistics »

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Mary Ellen Bock began her academic career at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in German in 1967. She shifted her focus to mathematics for her graduate studies at the same university and earned her PhD under the guidance of Robert B. Ash. In 1995, she made history as the first female full professor of statistics and inaugural female chair of the statistics department at Purdue. Under her leadership, Purdue added courses in areas of application such as bioinformatics, genomics, massive data, machine learning, visualization, and computational finance. She was also instrumental in securing National Science Foundation funding to develop the Pathways to the Future workshops that helped young female faculty succeed. Bock is an ASA founder and fellow.

Columns, Stats4Good »

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This month, David Corliss discusses the importance of building relationships with local subject experts and data stewards as the first step in developing community-based projects.

Additional Features »

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Sign up to participate in a new interest group that hopes to empower statisticians to participate in artificial intelligence research and leadership.

Meetings »

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UK National Statistician Sir Ian Diamond will open the conference with a keynote. Danny Pfeffermann, an academic with a career at the forefront of developing methods for official statistics, will give the second keynote, and Katherine Jenny Thompson, methodology director in the US Census Bureau Economic Statistical Methods Division, will give the final keynote.

A Statistician's Life, Celebrating Black History Month »

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Christophe Toukam Tchakoute grew up in Cameroon during the peak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which is how he became interested in STEM. His interest was reinforced when he attended the University of Cape Town in South Africa and became curious about the chemistry and cell biology of HIV and how the virus can hijack the immune system for its own benefit. Consequently, he interned in the HIV/AIDS department at the World Health Organization and was introduced to epidemiology and biostatistics. He now works at Genentech and leverages statistics and real-world data to inform clinical trial design for different oncology programs.

A Statistician's Life, Celebrating Black History Month »

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Lloyd Edwards earned a master’s in mathematical statistics at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1982 and then worked for TRW Defense Systems for three years as a software engineer focusing on antisubmarine warfare. He graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1990 with a PhD in biostatistics, leading to a career as a faculty member in the University of North Carolina Department of Biostatistics for close to 25 years. Since 2017, Edwards has been a professor in the department of biostatistics in the school of public health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

A Statistician's Life, Celebrating Black History Month »

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Chandra Erdman started college at 15 and earned her first degree in mathematics by 20. Eventually, she become the first Black person to earn a PhD in statistics from Yale University.

Member News, People News »

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Horton was recognized for his numerous innovative contributions to statistics and data science education and his significant participation in regional statistics activities for more than 25 years.

Featured, GiveASA »

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