Samantha Robinson, University of Arkansas; Tyler George, Cornell College; Momin M. Malik, Mayo Clinic; and Shiya Cao, Smith College
Justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion were represented throughout the JSM 2026 program, even beyond the sessions the ASA JEDI Outreach Group members organized or participated in. Particularly visible representations of JEDI included the Diversity Mentorship Program and sessions highlighting responses to federal moves to remove datasets and hollow out institutional knowledge. For instance, Peggy Carr, in the ASA President’s Invited Address, “Lived Experience to Public Trust: Stewardship, Service, and the Future of Federal Education Data,” highlighted the work she has led to make disparities measurable through federal education data infrastructure, mourned what is being lost, and provided a call to action for statisticians to build back our institutions to be more robust.
Among the sessions the JEDI Outreach Group was involved in, many related to statistics and data science education. In the session “Integrating Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Components into Statistics and Data Science Courses,” four speakers discussed efforts to enhance the teaching of statistics and data science with JEDI materials. Shiya Cao discussed integrating datasets and readings related to disability inclusion into an undergraduate-level introductory data science course and evaluating the impact on students’ data science skills and attitudes toward data science. Trijya Singh discussed strategies for inclusive course design tailored for smaller or teaching-focused departments. Tyler George talked about a working group of 10 faculty who, over the course of several months, engaged in faculty development and created JEDI-focused materials that could be used to enhance any statistics or data science classroom. Samantha Robinson explored some of the many challenges faculty currently face when trying to incorporate JEDI components into their courses. At the end of the session, discussant Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel reflected on different aspects of JEDI-focused education in statistics and data science and posed thought-provoking questions for further developing these topics in meaningful and relevant ways.
In the session “Creating Belonging: Inclusive Practices for Active Learning in Statistics and Data Science,” speakers Albert Kim, Çetinkaya-Rundel, Alexander Kaizer, and Nicholas Horton, as well as discussant Johanna Hardin, shared a variety of new and developing approaches to increasing inclusiveness in classrooms and increasing students’ sense of belonging in statistics and data science disciplines.
In the session “Developing and Teaching Community-Engaged Statistics and Data Science Courses,” speakers Ming-Wen An, Alice Paul, Brianna Heggeseth, and Phil Yates discussed their community-engaged courses, from planning to implementation. In their courses, students partner with and assist local government agencies and organizations while learning why data can/should not be disconnected from its context.
Another area of interest was social justice and the ethics of statistics. In the panel “Justice and Critiques of Statistics,” panelists Emma Benn, John Jackson, and Loni Tabb, with moderator Odis Johnson Jr., discussed their experiences navigating both the institutions of and content of statistics. They talked about the challenges of doing the statistical work that more precisely lays bare marginalization and structural racism and that addresses the erasure, oppression, and marginalization to which past generations of statistics and statisticians contributed. They also talked about training and mentorship they received and provided lessons learned. Additional discussion addressed the linkages between the intellectual work of shifting the content of statistics and the work of expanding who the institutions of statistics serve.
In the panel “Statistical Methods for Displaced and Refugee Populations and People Living in Conflict Zones,” chair James Cochran and panelists David Banks, Megan Price, and David Corliss talked with the audience about practical challenges in analyses, data acquisition, and linkage, continued from JSM 2025. One question asked was, “Does rigor matter?” Or more precisely, when, and to what extent does statistical rigor matter when some hostile parties will never be swayed by any evidence or argument, and when statistical rigor is the last concern for refugees from and survivors within conflict zones themselves? They discussed the nature of what it meant for statisticians to partner with affected populations, legal advocates, and on-the-ground support. Megan Price cited a sobering quote from a participant in a Human Rights Data Analysis Group workshop in 2021: “We’re not used to having data scientists on our side.”
Beyond the pedagogical and applied research, advocacy for diverse statisticians is central to the JEDI mission and values. Following the success of a related panel at JSM 2025, a panel at this year’s JSM paid particular attention to neurodivergent statisticians.
Panelists Samantha Robinson, Frank Rojas, David Nichols, and Jessica Murphy (session chair and panelist standing in for Donna LaLonde) discussed the results from a survey of ASA members and the implications of those results in the panel “Neurodivergence Among ASA Members: Results of a Survey and Implications.”
As we continue our work throughout the year and plan for next year’s JSM in Chicago, we invite the ASA community to join us in this work—whether through participating in the outreach group or in your own efforts to work toward justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. We know efforts extend far beyond what the JEDI Outreach Group is involved with or is even aware of, so we also extend an open invitation to anyone whose work we may not know about, have missed, or haven’t recognized. Please reach out by sending an email to admin@datascijedi.org and let us know so we can point our members to you and your work, especially for anything in 2027 that we can highlight and come support.
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