Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Career Advancement with JEDI 

This month, JEDI Corner begins a series on the organizations within the JEDI umbrella supporting all the dimensions of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. To start off, we’ll focus on the Professional Development Committee.  

The Professional Development Committee focuses on creating educational and career-building opportunities, experiences, and resources for the diverse and inclusive community of statisticians and data scientists. Activities include networking and supporting career day events, both virtually and in person through ASA chapters and sections. The committee also works with other organizations and societies such as the Eastern North American and Western North American regions of the International Biometric Society and Caucus for Women in Statistics and Data Science to develop resources to promote career development.  

The committee recently held a planning meeting to form ideas and set an agenda for the coming year. The JEDI Programming Committee recently merged with the Professional Development Committee, with the Professional Development Committee including the combined groups going forward. 

For 2026, this means continuing career day events, mentoring, and webinars supporting diversity and inclusion, in addition to more professional development presentations at the Joint Statistical Meetings and other conferences, where the role of AI and its impact on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace will be a hot topic. 

New activities for this year include starting a JEDI Slack channel to strengthen communication and support networking among members. Committee members also hope to develop more support for ASA awards. Supporting awards and mentoring are some of the most important ways we can help carry out JEDI’s mission. 

The JEDI Professional Development Committee is moving forward with a wide variety of activities to help the entire statistics and data science community grow professionally and engage in the ASA’s shared work of promoting justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Watch this space or the JEDI website for news and information about upcoming opportunities.  

David Corliss

With a PhD in statistical astrophysics, David Corliss works as a data scientist in industry. He serves on the ASA Board as a Council of Chapters representative and is the founder of Peace-Work, a data for good nongovernmental organization.

The Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Outreach Group Corner is 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, email the JEDI Corner manager at jedicorner@datascijedi.org.