Wendy Martinez and Donna LaLonde are the new co-editors of the ASA’s CHANCE magazine. Here, they answer a few questions about themselves and their plans for the publication this year.
Why did each of you accept the position as editor of CHANCE?
W: Thank you for the opportunity to share a little about us and our plans for CHANCE. I first want to mention that I am listed as the executive editor, but this is really a team effort with Donna LaLonde, so you will be hearing from her, too. I always wanted to serve as an editor. I’ve had opportunities to be on various editorial boards, but this is the first time I will have a leadership role for a publication. I am also passionate about making statistics understandable and interesting to a wide audience, and CHANCE is a great platform to achieve this goal.
D: I am excited about any opportunity to collaborate with Wendy on any project. Her passion and curiosity are contagious! More specifically to this project, I like to read and write, so working with others who also like to read and write is a perfect fit.
What are your current job titles and areas of interest?
W: I am currently employed as a senior mathematical statistician for data science in the research and methodology directorate at the US Census Bureau. I am interested in a lot of things! However, here is a short list with my major areas of interest. I love to read about text analysis, exploratory data analysis, computational statistics (or data science), and the history of statistics. I am also an advocate for open-source software for data analysis, especially R.
D: I am currently the director of strategic initiatives and outreach at the American Statistical Association. Like Wendy, I am interested in open science and computational data science. My list also includes education and a new interest in graphic design. Of course, I like to think about ways to support our amazing community!
Who do you think should read CHANCE magazine?
W: I think everybody should read CHANCE! This is a magazine and should be suitable for a general audience interested in applications and ideas in statistics and data science. Besides the main articles, CHANCE has columns in visualizing data, taking statistics and data science to the classroom, law, sports, and more. So, there is something for everyone. The editors work to ensure papers are written at a level that is easily accessible to a broad readership.
D: Everyone, so our challenge is to create issues that are interesting and accessible.
What do you enjoy the most about reading CHANCE magazine?
W: I guess this reflects my interests, but I really love Howard Wainer’s column, Visual Revelations. We all encounter art, graphics, and data visualizations in almost all aspects of our lives, from news stories to scientific journal articles. These visualizations tell a story, and Howard helps us to better understand how to think critically when viewing and learning from these stories.
D: I agree with Wendy that the columns are great. To her list I will add Taking a Chance in the Classroom. I like the variety that each issue offers.
Do you have any specific plans or exciting changes for the magazine in the upcoming months?
W: Donna and I have a lot of ideas! We welcome papers from authors in keeping with CHANCE’s vision to publish nontechnical papers that entertain the reader, while also providing information about statistical practice. We plan to have two to three articles each issue organized around a theme. We can also have special issues. If any of you are interested in editing one, just let us know! Finally, I am an advocate for open-access content, and we will be working with the ASA and Taylor & Francis to have more open-access content available. In particular, we want the column Taking a Chance in the Classroom to be open access, so statistics teachers at all levels can make use of the content.
D: Wendy and I both enjoy organizing data challenges, so look for challenge opportunities in future issues. We also would like to have more contributions from students. One of the exciting aspects of taking on this role is that whatever we do, we are building on a solid foundation. We need to listen and learn to help us map the next steps.
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