The JEDI Corner will be a regular component of Amstat News in which statisticians write about and educate our community about JEDI-related matters. If you have an idea or article for the column to share with readers, please email JEDI Outreach Group member Cathy Furlong.

Kimberly F. Sellers, ASA Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Outreach Group Chair

The year 2020 proved to be a watershed period in our society, given the dual epidemics of health disparities and racism. It brought many underlying issues regarding justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to the forefront, such that people could no longer turn a blind eye to them.

As you have since hopefully heard and/or read, the American Statistical Association has established the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Outreach Group to develop a diverse and inclusive environment that embraces all statisticians and data scientists, as well as to study and address statistical methods that can potentially introduce or exacerbate inequities and injustices in our society. Accordingly, we are committed to communication, programming, and professional development to advance and support a society that values all people.

Following through on this commitment, the JEDI Outreach Group hereby introduces one such initiative—The JEDI Corner. The JEDI Corner will be a regular component of Amstat News, where statisticians can write about and educate our community about various JEDI-related matters.

When most people hear commentary relating to JEDI, they typically focus on discussions such as those regarding race, gender, or sexual orientation; however, there are numerous other matters that likewise deserve attention in our community: persons with disabilities; ageism; and disparities ranging from financial/economic to discipline-specific (from theoretical to applied statistics) or with regard to work environment (academic, government, or industry).

Notice our potential span is enormous and, frankly, intimidating for one organization to address, which is why we need your help.

Issues of disparity and inequality are rampant in our society, so it is only natural they would exist within our discipline, as well. Thus, such matters affect everyone and, accordingly, everyone should care about at least some measure of advocacy.

We further hope for this regular segment in Amstat News to serve as an opportunity to educate our community about statistics research and developments that potentially contribute to or impact JEDI-related matters. As such, we want to not only be mindful of the usual statistical implications of our developments but look beyond “the data” and consider the impact our work can have on the larger question for which the data was gathered, collected, and analyzed.

Consider also not only how our work affects “the data majority,” but how it affects the data lying on the periphery or perceived to be an outlier. Particularly when working in applications with real biomedical or societal implications, we cannot simply dismiss the data that appears as “different from the norm” or somehow misrepresents its contribution to convey a desired result more easily.

Notice that such statistical interests and contributions can span any number of topics. As a result, this is an exciting opportunity for any and all to contribute to this endeavor—from our vast array of sections and committees to interest groups. Whether or not you affiliate with any of these ASA subgroups, there are JEDI-related topics for discussion on which you can shed light for our community.

Any interested writers can submit a JEDI-related article for The JEDI Corner; submissions or inquiries regarding The JEDI Corner can be emailed to the outreach group’s communications team at communicate@datascijedi.org with “The JEDI Corner” in the subject line.

Contributions can be submitted at any time, and The JEDI Corner manager will be in touch with you regarding your inquiry or submission, any associated review, and publication logistics, as appropriate.

Submissions should be 600–1,200 words and, as with any publication, note the authors’ names and affiliations for proper crediting, along with a title for the contribution.

On behalf of the JEDI Outreach Group, thank you in advance for your contribution to educating our community and helping make our discipline and larger society a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive environment for all.