The department of statistics at the University of Connecticut held its 27th Distinguished Statistician Colloquium October 20, 2021. Mary W. Gray, distinguished professor of mathematics and statistics at American University, was the honored guest speaker and gave a talk titled, “Statistics and Human Rights.”
Gray opened her talk by telling the group, “I like to think that statistics can open the world.” She discussed her career in academia, the challenges of working as a woman in the math field in the ’60s, and her experience learning different computer languages throughout the years.
“I saw an exhibit about Justice Ginsburg at the New York Historical Society over the weekend,” she said. “I noticed the quotation of hers, that I’ve always liked. ‘Fight for the things that you think about, but in a way that will lead others to join you.’ And that’s, I think, what has made the progress since women in science, women in mathematics, women in statistics.”
Following the lecture was a session titled Conversation with Distinguished Statisticians in Memory of Professor Harry O. Posten.
The purpose of the colloquium is to provide a forum for a distinguished statistician to share and disseminate their unique perspective and work in the theory and/or application of statistics. Starting from 2018, the series has been co-sponsored by Pfizer, the American Statistical Association, and the Department of Statistics at the University of Connecticut. Past colloquia have featured C.R. Rao, Bradley Efron, D.R. Cox, and Grace Wahba. View a complete list of speakers and the lecture.
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