Matilde Sanchez-Kam to Be Vice President

Katherine (Kathy) Ensor, Noah G. Harding Professor of Statistics in the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University, has been elected the 117th president of the American Statistical Association. She will serve a one-year term as president-elect beginning January 1, 2021; her term as president becomes effective January 1, 2022.

The ASA membership also elected Matilde Sanchez-Kam, associate director of analytics and informatics in the Office of Biostatistics of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the US Food and Drug Administration, ASA vice president. Sanchez-Kam’s term begins January 1, 2021.

Ensor said one of her major goals as president is to advance the ASA’s data science footprint. “Data science methods integrate the best of statistical thinking and practice,” she said, noting that many universities are already investing in their statistics departments to build top data science programs. “ASA has an opportunity to work with university leaders to articulate the value statisticians bring to their strategic leadership table.” Ensor said.

Another area of focus for Ensor will be growing urban analytics, a field that combines statistics, local governments, and “data for good.” “Our urban environments generate massive amounts of geo-referenced data, allowing us to draw insights on how we work, live, play, and learn within our communities,” Ensor said. “Urban analytics requires our best statistical science coupled with a willingness to engage local governments, NGOs, and communities to improve quality of life.” Ensor said she would like to see the ASA foster collaborations between ASA members and their local communities.

Leadership has been a consistent theme in Ensor’s career. At Rice University, she serves as director for the Center for Computational Finance and Economic Systems and also oversees development of the Kinder Institute Urban Data Platform, a computing platform and data repository for the greater Houston area. She served as chair of the department of statistics from 1999 through 2013. Ensor looks forward to advancing the ASA’s Leadership Institute, which was established in 2018 and provides training and opportunities for ASA members to develop their leadership skills.

Ensor’s professional service spans many areas, including serving on the board of directors of the National Science Foundation Institute on Pure and Applied Mathematics, as a member of the National Academies Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics, as vice president of the ASA from 2016 to 2018, and as elected representative to numerous ASA sections and councils.

Ensor earned her doctorate in statistics from Texas A&M University and her master’s in mathematics and bachelors of science in education from Arkansas State University. She was elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2013 and an ASA Fellow in 2000.

Sanchez-Kam begins her tenure as ASA vice president after more than 20 years of active service to the ASA. She first became a member as a Penn State graduate student in 1993 and has held numerous positions within the ASA since then, including chair of the biopharmaceutical section, chair of the statistical consulting section, and both president and vice president of the New Jersey Chapter.

Since 2018, Sanchez-Kam has been an associate director of analytics and informatics for the Office of Biostatistics at the US Food and Drug Administration. Prior to that, she held positions in industry, including nine years as vice president of biostatistics and data management at Arena Pharmaceuticals and 11 years as director of clinical biostatistics and research decision science at Merck Research Laboratories.

Sanchez-Kam earned her bachelor’s in statistics from the University of the Philippines at Los Banos, a master’s in statistics and operations research from Penn State, and a PhD in statistics from Penn State.

The ASA membership also elected the following:

• Alexandra Hanlon, Director, Center for Biostatistics and Health Science at Virginia Tech, as the Council of Chapters Representative to the ASA Board
• Kate Calder, Professor, Department of Statistics and Data Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin, as the Council of Sections Representative to the ASA Board
• Bin Nan, Professor of Statistics, University of California at Irvine, as Publications Representative to the ASA Board
• Jeffrey Dawson, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, as Chair-elect of the Council of Chapters Governing Board
• Jason Roy, Chair of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Rutgers University, as Chair-elect of the Council of Sections Governing Board

The entire slate of election results, including officers for each of the ASA’s 27 sections, follows:

Section on Bayesian Statistical Science (SBSS)
Chair-Elect 2021
Amy Herring
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Veronica Berrocal
Secretary/Treasurer 2021–2022
Adrian Dobra

Biometrics Section (BIOM)
Chair-Elect 2021
Sebastien Haneuse
Secretary/Treasurer 2021–2022
Xian Jin Xie
Council of Sections Representative 2021–2023
Briana Stephenson

Biopharmaceutical Section (BIOP)
Chair-Elect 2021
Alan Hartford
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Freda Cooner
Secretary 2021–2023
Inna Perevozskaya
Council of Sections Representative 2021–2023
Mark Levenson

Business and Economic Statistics Section (BE)
Chair-Elect 2021
Erica Groshen
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Tyler McCormick
Secretary/Treasurer 2021–2022
Daniel Kowal

Section on Statistical Computing (COMP)
Chair-Elect 2021
Jun Yan
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Linglong Kong
Council of Sections Representative 2021–2023
Samantha Tyner

Section on Statistical Consulting (CNSL)
Chair-Elect 2021
Xiaoyue Maggie Niu
Publications Officer 2021–2022
Edward L. Boone
Council of Sections Representative 2021–2023
Naomi Brownstein
Executive Committee at Large 2021–2023
Robert Podolsky

Section on Statistics and Data Science Education (EDUC)
Chair-Elect 2021
Rebecca Nugent
Council of Sections Representative 2021–2023
Kumer Das
Executive Committee at Large 2021–2023 (two positions)
Alison Gibbs
Executive Committee at Large 2021–2023 (two positions)
Chris Malone

Section on Statistics in Defense and National Security (SDNS)
Chair-Elect 2021
Karl Pazdernik
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Justin T. Newcomer
Publications Officer 2021–2022
Sarah Elise Roberts

Section on Statistics and the Environment (ENVR)
Chair-Elect 2021
Elizabeth Mannshardt
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Emily L. Kang
Treasurer 2021
Katie Banner
Council of Sections Representative 2021–2023
Debashis Mondal

Section on Statistics in Epidemiology (EPI)
Chair-Elect 2021
Michael Daniels
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Bo Lu
Council of Sections Representative 2021–2023
Doug Landsittel

Section on Statistics in Genomics and Genetics (SGG)
Chair-Elect 2021
Michael Wu
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Lin Chen
Council of Sections Representative 2021–2023
Iuliana Ionita-Laza

Government Statistics Section (GOVT)
Chair-Elect 2021
Simone Gray
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Stephen Campbell
Secretary/Treasurer 2021–2022
Emily Molfino
Publications Officer 2021–2022
Kathi Irvine

Section on Statistical Graphics (GRPH)
Chair-Elect 2021
Ed Mulrow
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Carson Sievert
Secretary/Treasurer 2021–2022
Natasha Sahr

Health Policy Statistics Section (HPSS)
Chair-Elect 2021
Yuanjia Wang

Section on Statistics in Imaging (SI)
Chair-Elect 2021
Ciprian Crainiceanu
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Simon Vandekar
Council of Sections Representative 2021–2023
Elizabeth Sweeney

Section on Statistical Learning and Data Science (SLDM)
Chair-Elect 2021
Ali Shojaie
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Glen Wright Colopy

Lifetime Data Science Section (LIDS)
Chair-Elect 2021
Douglas Schaubel
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Jing Ning
Treasurer 2021–2023
Yu Cheng

Section on Statistics in Marketing (MKTG)
Chair-Elect 2021
Alan Montgomery
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Liye Ma
Secretary/Publications Officer 2021–2022
Alice Li

Section on Medical Devices and Diagnostics (MDD)
Chair-Elect 2021
Norberto Pantoja-Galicia
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Tracy Bergemann

Mental Health Statistics Section (MHS)
Chair-Elect 2021
Pilar Lim
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Alessandro De Nadai

Section on Nonparametric Statistics (NPAR)
Chair-Elect 2021
Lan Wang
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Yichao Wu
Treasurer 2021
Howard D. Bondell
Publications Officer 2021–2022
Lingzhou Xue

Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences (SPES)
Chair-Elect 2021
Lulu Kang
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Jonathan Stallrich

Section for Statistical Programmers and Analysts (SSPA)
Chair-Elect 2021
Whitney Worley
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Gabriel Odom

Quality and Productivity Section (QP)
Chair-Elect 2021
Xinwei Deng
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Lisa M. Moore

Section on Risk Analysis (RISK)
Chair-Elect 2021
Indranil Ghosh
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Alexander Alekseyenko
Council of Sections Representative 2021–2023
Chris Sroka

Social Statistics Section (SOC)
Chair-Elect 2021
Aleksandra (Sesa) Slavkovic
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Elena Erosheva
Publications Officer 2021–2022
Quentin Brummet

Section on Statistics in Sports (SIS)
Chair-Elect 2021
Paul Sabin
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Benjamin S. Baumer
Council of Sections Representative 2021–2023
Sarah Morris

Survey Research Methods Section (SRMS)
Chair-Elect 2021
Jean Opsomer
Program Chair-Elect 2021
Jana Asher
Treasurer 2020–2021
Jessica Kohlschmidt
Publications Officer 2021–2022
Dan Liao
Council of Sections Representative 2021–2023
Stas Kolenikov
Education Officer 2021–2022
Daniell Toth

Section on Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences (TSHS)
Chair-Elect 2021
Jacqueline Milton