Elizabeth Mannshardt

Elizabeth Mannshardt, Statistician

Elizabeth Mannshardt is an associate director of the Information Access and Analytic Services Division of the US Environmental Protection Agency.

I became involved with the ASA as a graduate student and have found that, as my career path has developed, I have been able to shift my focus within the ASA and at events such as JSM. My current position, associate director of the Information Access and Analytic Services Division of the US Environmental Protection Agency, is more on the IT side of data science than my previous roles as a traditional statistician. The ASA has a broad array of offerings across different paths in statistics and data science, which have served me well in my own journey.

I appreciate that the breadth of the JSM program goes beyond methodology and theory sessions. The women in statistics panels at JSM 2019 and 2020 featured amazing statisticians with so many interesting insights, including Suzanne Thornton’s STRR for advocacy—speak, trust, recognize, read—and Wendy Martinez’s perspective on women in leadership guiding others. I also enjoyed the discussions “Communication in Statistical Science” and “The Juggling Collaborator: Which Balls to Drop,” as well as Regina Nuzzo’s session, “Communicating to the Masses.” At the Committee on Career Development’s JSM 2019 guided networking session, it was fun to talk with newer ASA members about building professional connections.

It has been a rewarding experience to work with the ASA on developing initiatives that have proven key in current times.

Elizabeth Mannshardt says she was glad the ASA North Carolina Chapter’s 2018 speed mentoring event revealed that each professional’s career has unexpected twists along the way and there are many paths to success.

Of great importance to me is providing opportunities for students and young professionals. Working with the ASA’s North Carolina Chapter, we generally approached the organizational process asking, “What did I wish I knew when I was starting out?” NC ASA’s Mentoring and Early Career Development Workshop featured topics such as how to be more successful, presenting best practices, leadership, and building a career. It was exciting to hear participants express how the workshop helped them begin thinking about their goals in a new way and covered concepts that matter throughout one’s career. I learned quite a bit myself!

It is also important to me to illustrate to those starting out that there are many paths to success. A question posed during an NC ASA speed mentoring event revealed that each professional’s career has had unexpected twists along the way. The look of surprised relief among participants learning that successful professionals aren’t always offered jobs and sometimes have their papers rejected will always stay with me.

As I joined the executive board of the Government Statistics Section (GSS), an important initiative was to create more opportunities for young professionals and others who might not have resources to travel to events like JSM. In 2019, GSS held a mentoring roundtable at JSM and recently launched a larger mentoring program. The importance of these connections was expressed by mentee Nancy Murray: “They were all personable and shared their more human aspects of their stories.” Additionally, GSS, the Social Statistics Section, and the ASA Professional Development program launched a virtual workshop series. It has been a rewarding experience to work with the ASA on developing initiatives that have proven key in current times.

The ASA has provided many opportunities within my own career, including the chance to develop skills beyond the role of traditional statistician. Experiences gained running an executive board provided key points in my recent interview for my management position. But the most important and rewarding aspect has been the people I have had the opportunity to meet and the amazing colleagues with whom I have been so fortunate to work. Emily Griffith, Jenny Thompson, and Donna LaLonde are just a few of those who have served to make the ASA an incredible community. I look forward to meeting so many more!

Bowen (far right) and other participants at the 2019 New Researcher Conference go on the New Belgium Brewing Company tour. Bowen says she enjoys being an ASA member and making fun memories like this one.

Claire McKay Bowen

Claire McKay Bowen, Data Scientist

Claire McKay Bowen is the lead data scientist of privacy and data security at the Urban Institute.

At the beginning of September, I was asked to tell a story about why I joined the ASA and chose to become more active. I was also asked to share a specific story about an association experience I found most interesting. For weeks, I struggled to figure out what specific story I wanted to tell.

Do I describe how I met Jeri Mulrow during a mentoring event at a Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) conference and how we now text each other pictures of mountains and food we want to eat? Do I instead talk about how I met Joanne Wendelberger at my first statistics conference and she later became my postdoc adviser? Or do I reminisce about all the fun moments during ASA events such as catching up with my friends at conferences or watching Xiao-Li Meng go down the slide during a brewery tour? 

As I contemplated what story to share, I realized these many relationships and memories are all pieces of a much larger story of why I am part of the ASA. Each of these pieces tells my ASA story and motivates me to become more active in my community. 

Mentoring, Research, Friendship, Fun Memories, and ‘The Why’

Bowen (left) and Jeri Mulrow met at JSM 2015 and are seen here at JSM 2018. Bowen says Mulrow has been a valuable mentor and friend.

Mentoring: I met Jeri at JSM 2015, where she took a chance on me to present at NSF about differential privacy, a mathematical definition that quantifies privacy-loss. Since then, we catch up at each JSM and she has provided me with invaluable career advice that continues to guide me today. Also, through our mutual love of food, we go out to restaurants around Washington, DC, and JSM conference locations. 

Research: Joanne and I happened to pair up during the speed mentoring session at the first Women in Statistics and Data Science Conference.

This encounter sparked my first graduate internship and postdoc at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Through these research experiences, Joanne taught me the importance of applied and collaborative research. “We should be doing data-informed decision-making instead of data-driven. We still need that human element.” con

Friendship: Joanne told me that one of the best parts of going to conferences is catching up with your buddies. My friends Alicia Lamere and Evercita Eugenio and I graduated within a year of each other at Notre Dame, but catch up at each JSM and other ASA conferences.

Fun Memories: In 2019, I attended the New Research Conference and opted for the brewery tour as the “fun event.” At some point during the tour, I was the one who ended up carrying the extra 12-pack of beer. I carried that box the entire night as we all went out for dinner and bar hopped. Surprised I carried the 12-pack, Xiao-Li asked that I bring the beer to his IMS presidential speech so he could toast to the New Researcher Conference attendees. 

The Why: As for why I continue to be active within the ASA, I want to “pay it forward” to the ASA community that provided so much for me.