At The Ohio State University, multiple faculty members invested significantly in Brian Millen’s development. These individuals expanded Millen’s statistical thinking, supported his goals, celebrated his successes, and coached him through every low point. Consequently, Millen became an advocate for diversity and inclusion and is past chair of and current adviser to the ASA Committee on Minorities in Statistics and founder of the JSM Diversity Workshop and Mentoring Program.

Meet new ASA staff member Jack Joyce, the online community and marketing coordinator.

Dionne Price always enjoyed applied mathematics in school, but it was the chance to intern for the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke that sparked her love of biostatistics. Now at the FDA, she provides leadership to statisticians involved in the development and application of methodology used in the regulation of anti-infective, anti-viral, ophthalmology, rare diseases, urology, and reproductive drug products. She also writes poetry, including “The Journey” here.

While Lorin Crawford was writing his honors thesis on semigroup theory, he decided he no longer wanted to work on pure math problems but instead wanted to focus on more immediate real-world applications. Today, as RGSS Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at Brown University, his lab includes a mixture of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers in applied math, biostatistics, computational biology, and computer science. And even though his work earned him recognition as a member of The Root 100 Most Influential African Americans in 2019, the most rewarding part of his job to him is having the unique opportunity to mentor people with such diverse skill sets, thought patterns, and social backgrounds.

In this month’s column, ASA President Wendy Martinez shares the 2020 ASA initiatives and invites you to get involved in working toward our strategic themes through these initiatives.

SRMS conducted its periodic review of the SRMS charter and is working to provide members with multiple opportunities, including an array of webinars throughout the year and pertinent invited and topic-contributed sessions at the Joint Statistical Meetings.

From around the world came 150 people to participate in the Seasonal Adjustment Practitioners Workshop at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in November of 2019.

Mathematics was always Kimberly Flagg Sellers’s favorite subject, and she recalls wanting a PhD in a math-related discipline at an early age. In fact, she graduated from high school at age 16 and earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics at age 20 on a full academic scholarship. An associate professor of mathematics and statistics at Georgetown University, Sellers is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute and an active contributor to efforts to diversify the fields of mathematical and statistical sciences.

The chapter’s Senior Statistician Award was given to Alyson Wilson and Steve Marron on December 6, 2019.

A late-breaking session addresses a hot statistical issue of the day or a pressing contemporary topic in statistics. Have an idea? Submit a proposal by April 15.

Melvin S. Munsaka’s father, a former teacher turned pastor, often hinted to him about medical school, but Munsaka was drawn to mathematics and science and eventually pursued mathematics at the University of Zambia. It was in graduate school that he switched his major to statistics and probability and was awarded a Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship to complete his MSc at McGill. Since then, Munsaka has worked for STATPROBE, Takeda Pharmaceuticals (where he received three of the company’s prestigious awards), and AbbVie.

In celebration of Black History Month, we recognize the famous professor David Blackwell along with 16 individuals from the black/African-American collective who have made tremendous contributions to the field of statistics.

Steven V. Burke of Monroe, Connecticut, passed away suddenly at age 57 on December 6, 2019.

Nolan Terry is a proud native of Augusta, Georgia, and a graduate of the University of Georgia. He is vice president and director of manufacturing at Nestlé Purina, where his passion for leading high-performing teams helps support a nearly $10 billion business in the United States. He believes data always tells a story and we have to be willing to listen and take action.

As part of the section’s speaker program, Laura Freeman traveled to the United States Military Academy at West Point to brief staff and faculty on statistical methods in test and evaluation within the Department of Defense.

Amandeep Kaur, Kristina Boyd, and Lauren Frisbie will receive registration and travel support to attend CSP 2020.

An early interest in mathematics shifted slightly when Tommy Wright, then a junior mathematics instructor, was assigned to teach a course in probability and statistics. But as he learned statistics with the students, he discovered what one might do with statistical knowledge, ultimately leading him to graduate study in statistics. Since joining the US Census Bureau in 1996, Wright has led the Center for Statistical Research and Methodology, which focuses on challenges in providing official statistics on the behavior and condition of the nation’s people and businesses.

When Tanya Moore first took statistics her junior year in college, she struggled. With the help of her mentor, Nagambal Shah, and adviser, Mark van der Laan, however, she gravitated toward probability and statistics because of their ability to combine math with issues she cared about. Today, she is passionate in her support of women in STEM careers and co-founded the Infinite Possibilities Conference, designed to support, promote, and encourage underrepresented minority women in mathematics.

An ASA Task Force on Statistical Significance and Replicability will be created, with a charge to develop thoughtful principles and practices that the ASA can endorse and share with scientists and journal editors.

Cavell Brownie was born in Jamaica and earned her PhD from Cornell University in 1973. She mentored female junior faculty and African-American students at North Carolina State University, meeting them regularly to discuss research and educational issues. In fact, NC State established a faculty award in her name to encourage faculty to emulate her generous mentoring.

Darrell Philpot traversed a long career in the pharmaceutical industry, engaging in market research, forecasting, survey sampling, and promotion modeling before becoming senior director of data science and advanced analytics at IQVIA. Over the course of his career, Philpot has felt lucky to have been mentored by his college professor, Kermit Hutcheson, as well as Ken Copland and Paul Wilson.

Jacqueline M. Hughes-Oliver was born in Jamaica and raised there by her grandmother until age 15, at which time she moved to join her mother in Ohio and attend the University of Cincinnati. She chose to study statistics in graduate school because of its applicability to every discipline; the thought of being able to make contributions in myriad areas was particularly enticing. A professor of statistics, Hughes-Oliver is passionate about outreach to underrepresented groups in the mathematical and statistical sciences and has been recognized with several teaching awards and elected to the NC State Academy of Outstanding Teachers.

Current ASA Science Policy Fellow Daniel Elchert reflects on this unique fellowship and its many benefits.

Currently a statistics professor at North Carolina Central University, Kimberly S. Weems has been instrumental in enhancing the graduate mathematics curriculum with statistics courses. She strives to expose her students to a variety of areas in statistics and data science and encourages them to pursue the path that inspires them, as she thinks this will lead to the happiest and most productive careers. She is the 2017 recipient of the College of Arts and Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award.

Looking to stay up to date on developments in health care technology? Tune in to “The Pod of Asclepius,” a new podcast!

Bill Jenkins began his career as a statistician in the National Center for Health Statistics. He was a biostatistician by day and an activist by night. During his early 20s, he learned of the infamous, unethical Tuskegee syphilis study and worked to expose it. He helped extract an official apology from the federal government and produced a documentary with the survivors. Sadly, he passed away in February 2019 at the age of 73.

Charlotte Baidoo loved how statistics told a story from data when she was in high school and, while she was an undergraduate, a professor inspired her to pursue a career in biostatistics. It was an opportunity to combine her love of applied math with helping others. Now, she aids the development of medicines to transform patient’s lives. A child of Ghanaian immigrants, she is also passionate about inclusion and diversity and co-leads EMBRACE, GSK’s first multiethnicity-focused employee resource group.

In this, the first of a two-part series, David Corliss looks at how social media channels can play an important supporting role in Data for Good projects.

Even though Neal Jeffries’s father was a high-school math teacher, he studied only enough mathematics to earn a degree in economics. However, while working as a policy analyst, he realized statistics was necessary to critically evaluate the data that provides the basis for sound public policy—and that understanding led him to want a formal statistics education. Now, at the National Institutes of Health, Jeffries’s work involves advances in treating sickle cell anemia by expanding the pool of those who can receive curative stem cell transplants and developing new avenues of therapy.

Register today for the 2020 Symposium on Data Science and Statistics. There will be a speed mentoring event and organized lunch meetups. Also, new this year: Career Service.

On his 75th birthday, Winston A. Richards took part in the graduation ceremony at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad by giving a talk titled, “My Life as a Statistician,” and presenting a prize named after him.

The Statistics Division of the American Society for Quality is accepting applications for the Ellis R. Ott Scholarship, which supports students in a graduate program with a concentration in applied statistics and/or quality management.

The ASA’s extensive awards program recognizes statisticians who have made outstanding contributions through research, teaching, consulting, and service to the association and statistical profession. The annual awards listing contains important 2019–2020 award deadline and contact information.

The prize recognizes sustained, high-quality, cross-disciplinary research involving the statistical sciences.