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.
… My work with statisticians from all over North Carolina has helped me develop a broader understanding of our field.
I joined the American Statistical Association because I knew it was what statisticians were supposed to do, but I didn’t begin to understand why it’s so important until a few years later. My increased involvement has looked a little like this:
- Attending conferences
- Speaking at conferences
- Working with other speakers in between conferences
- Running and being elected to my local chapter
- Being a huge fan of the ASA
Before I ran for office in the North Carolina Chapter, I understood some of the value of professional societies as far as providing training and teaching resources, connecting with a professional network, and honoring the work of amazing statisticians. Now that my four years on the executive board of the North Carolina Chapter are ending, I have a much deeper appreciation. We’ve organized career information fairs, awards dinners, mentoring events, and socials. Through it all, my work with statisticians from all over North Carolina has helped me develop a broader understanding of our field.
However, the most rewarding ASA experience I’ve had was creating a series of statistical collaboration videos under an ASA-funded strategic initiative with Julia Sharp and Megan Higgs. We worked remotely to write scripts and discussion questions, but all met in Fort Collins, Colorado, to do the filming. The funding allowed us to hire actors and a videographer, and watching our words come to life in the scenes as they were filmed was an amazing experience. We recently released the videos, and I don’t know that I’ve ever been this proud of something I’ve worked on professionally.
The roots of these videos go deep into ASA activities. I first met Julia at an ASA-sponsored conference in North Carolina in 2014, and we met again (and started discussing statistical collaboration training more seriously) on a panel at the Joint Statistical Meetings in 2017. She already knew Megan, and the three of us were thrilled to be able to put together the video series thanks to the ASA’s funding of our proposal. We announced the videos at our 2020 JSM invited panel discussion and used them to help teach a short course at the Conference on Statistical Practice this year.
These videos were a big shift in my own career—they mark the moment I moved from “only” doing the work to teaching other people how to do the same work. This shift happened because of the American Statistical Association, and I’m truly grateful.
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