My ASA Story: Leslie McClure, Professor

This series features ASA members who share their ASA stories. Our mission is to collect authentic and meaningful accounts of member experiences. If you have a story you would like to share, email the ASA’s marketing and communications coordinator, Kim Gilliam.

I am an applied statistician who collaborates in a variety of areas and whose methods work arises from the applications I work on. I have been a member of the ASA since 1996, when I was working on my master’s degree in biostatistics. I attended my first JSM in Chicago with some of my classmates, mainly so we could compete in the Mu Sigma Rho College Bowl. While we did not win (we didn’t even make the finals), it was a great opportunity to get to know my classmates better and learn what JSM is about.

It took me some time to find my place in the ASA, as I felt that, as an applied statistician, the organization might not be for me. However, as I learned more about the ASA, I found there was indeed a place for me. In fact, there were many places for me! I have been involved in several ways. I am currently serving on the Committee for Funded Research, which has given me opportunities to help others learn from my experiences being collaborative. I also serve as the ASA representative to the COPSS Presidents’ Award, providing me insight into amazing young people in our field.

I also found that involvement with the ASA has allowed me to pursue my passion for increasing representation in our field in a number of ways, and that has brought me great joy. I have been involved with initiatives to increase diversity and representation among folks traditionally underrepresented in statistics, including BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] statisticians, statisticians who identify as women, and LBGTQ+ statisticians.

In fact, chairing the ASA’s Task Force on Sexual Harassment and Assault was one of the most meaningful experiences of my career. The task force arose through grassroots efforts to bring more attention to some of the experiences people who identify as women experience at ASA events. A group of young women who were concerned about the climate for women in our field approached me at WSDS [Women in Statistics and Data Science Conference] to talk about ways we could make a difference. I reached out to ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein with the idea for the task force and was delighted when he enthusiastically supported our efforts to make change.

I was uncertain I was the right person to lead the task force but was honored to work with an amazing group of colleagues to review, develop, and help implement policies intended to address sexual misconduct among statisticians, specifically at ASA events. Knowing the work we did over the course of more than a year could really catalyze change in the ASA was extremely rewarding and allowed me to give back to the community that has supported me and helped me become the statistician I am today.

As a biostatistician, I often work on interesting research questions that address important health challenges, but I rarely get to see the downstream impact of that research on real people. The task force work allowed me to help develop policy that could affect the careers of countless statisticians who identify as women, as well as improve the climate for all statisticians, and I’m extremely proud of the work we did to help make real change for the ASA.