Diversity Mentoring Program participants at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Toronto, Canada, in August
Photo by Olivia Brown/ASA

For the first time in four years, the Committee on Minorities in Statistics held in-person meetings for both its signature programs, the Diversity Mentoring Program and StatFest. The mentoring program is geared toward graduate students and early-career professionals from traditionally underrepresented communities, while StatFest is a pathway program aimed at encouraging undergraduate students in those same communities to consider graduate studies and careers in statistics and data science.

Both programs experienced a record level of participation this year. The Diversity Mentoring Program matched 45 mentees to mentors across all sectors of statistics. And, despite Tropical Storm Ophelia landing the same day, StatFest welcomed approximately 170 attendees.

The Diversity Mentoring Program was held during the 2023 Joint Statistical Meetings in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It kicked off Sunday evening with a dinner for mentees and mentors.

Monday’s session set the tone for the program with a panel on the importance of leveraging mentorship for career development, which was followed by parallel sessions focused on tips to help graduate students and early-career professionals thrive.

Tuesday’s session focused on career navigation, starting with a panel of statisticians who shared lessons learned through their career journeys and ending with two parallel sessions about career opportunities in statistics and data science and virtual mentoring and interviewing. The session on virtual mentoring and interviewing was jointly organized with the JEDI Outreach Group.

The Diversity Mentoring Program concluded Wednesday, which started with a focus on mental health, emphasized during a presentation by Carmen Tekwe of Indiana University about building resilience. The finale of Wednesday’s agenda was a roundtable discussion during which participants had the opportunity to ask any lingering questions.

This year’s StatFest was held September 23 at the SAS Institute in Cary, North Carolina. The day began with a keynote address by Ché Smith of Netflix, who shared her educational and career journey using movie and television posters.

The day continued with an interactive session about building a mentorship network led by Ray Levy of North Carolina State University. Two career panels—one on academia, government, and nonprofit sectors and one on the industry sector—gave attendees a glimpse into career opportunities in each.

Students also learned about the graduate school application process from Merlise Clyde of Duke University and used their newfound knowledge during a student-only panel known as The Graduate Student Experience.

Throughout the day, attendees were able to take advantage of the StatFest Expo to network and connect with 12 institutions, including Two Sigma, North Carolina State University, and Merck.

As is StatFest tradition, the day ended with continued networking during an ice cream social.

The Diversity Mentoring Program will take place again at JSM 2024 in Portland, Oregon, while StatFest 2024 will be held at Columbia University in New York City.

The Diversity Mentoring Program and StatFest are possible due to donations from ASA members and friends. Contact Amanda Malloy or Therri Usher to learn how you can help.