Grant Weller
Members of the Twin Cities Chapter represented the statistics profession at a career exploration fair for local high-school students held February 28. More than 100 students from area schools attended the inaugural event, held in Elk River, Minnesota.
Chapter members Louise Johnson of Quintiles, Grant Weller of Savvysherpa, and Brad Carlin and Julian Wolfson of the University of Minnesota shared aspects of their experiences as statisticians and offered advice to students interested in statistical careers.
Carlin and Wolfson also shared information about the University of Minnesota’s Summer Institute in Biostatistics (SIBS), a six-week program providing undergraduate students with training in biostatistics, epidemiology, and statistical computing. For 2015, the University of Minnesota is one of eight institutions hosting SIBS, a program supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. In addition to the biostatistical training, the program includes scientific seminars; opportunities to visit local organizations (such as the Mayo Clinic and Medtronic, Inc.) where biostatisticians work; and social events such as picnics, shopping, and Twins and Lynx games. Details.
The Twin Cities Chapter boasts a membership of nearly 200, representing three academic statistical research departments (University of Minnesota Division of Biostatistics and School of Statistics and Mayo Clinic Division of Biomedical Statistics and Informatics); educators at local colleges and universities; and industrial statisticians working in health care and life sciences research, marketing, and the insurance industry, among others.
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