Annie Qu was trained as a computational mathematician and had not analyzed data until she was introduced to statistics in graduate school. Suddenly, all the numbers and programming were meaningful and there were interesting stories behind them. This was just the beginning of her journey in data science research. Since then, she has worked on tensor learning for optical breast cancer imaging data, network data, deep learning, active learning, crowdsourcing, and personalized medicine. Doing something new and cutting-edge has always been exciting for her and keeps her motivated.
Additional Features
Calling All Graphic Artists
The Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Outreach Group is looking for an emblem that properly reflects JEDI and its mission to strengthen our community by making it more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive.
ASA, COPAFS, Partners Urge Bolstering of Federal Statistical Agencies
Federal statistics have undergirded our democracy, society, and economy since the nation’s founding. Even as their importance has increased over the centuries—especially recently with the focus on evidence-based policymaking—the agencies producing the data have been neglected, lost important autonomy and statutory protections, and been pushed deeper into the federal bureaucracy.
Clarice R. Weinberg
Clarice R. Weinberg was always good with numbers and earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics. However, she didn’t know what to do with her math degrees so she looked into statistics and eventually earned her PhD in biomathematics from the University of Washington. Now at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, she is active in breast cancer research and working with biostatistics graduate students to develop stochastic search methods to identify sets of gene variants and sets of exposures that synergistically influence risk.
ASA Members Give Despite Trying Times
Despite all the difficulty and adjustments, ASA members came together to raise nearly $224,000 in support of ASA programs.
Shawn Simpson
Shawn Simpson loved math and computers as a kid and thought soldering extra chips into her PlayStation was cool, so she resolved to major in electrical engineering in college. It wasn’t until she was analyzing LIDAR data that it became clear how powerful statistics was as a field and she decided to earn her PhD in statistics. Currently, as principal data scientist on the AI Labs team at BlackRock in New York City, she leads a group that builds tools for traders powered by statistics and machine learning. Her advice to young statisticians? Don’t do this alone; reach out to others for support and feedback.
Nandini Kannan
Nandini Kannan was born in Bhopal, India, and completed her schooling in Mumbai and New Delhi. She enjoyed solving math puzzles as a child, inheriting her love of mathematics from her father, a mathematician. After completing a master’s degree at the University of Madras, Kannan joined the University of Pittsburgh to work with C. R. Rao. She is proud of her work at the National Science Foundation developing interdisciplinary research and training programs in data science and is passionate about the critical role science and technology play in this global interconnected society. Kannan is committed to developing and supporting initiatives that address diversity and equity in the STEM workforce.
Christy Chuang-Stein
Christy Chuang-Stein grew up in an isolated city on the east coast of Taiwan. Both her parents were high-school teachers, and she remembers doing math lessons with her mother while other kids played outside. Yes, she resented the extra lessons at the time, but those lessons served her well and she ended up majoring in math in college. In the 90s, Chuang-Stein represented Pfizer (then Pharmacia) in presenting their HIV trial data at an FDA Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee meeting to review statistical evidence for using viral load as a surrogate for clinical outcome in assessing HIV treatments. It is hard for her to describe the sense of exhilaration when her team’s endeavors lead to profound improvement in people’s lives.
ASA Signs on as Host of JMM 2022
The ASA will join other societies and associations as a partner with the American Mathematical Society to hold the Joint Mathematics Meetings, the largest annual mathematics gathering in the world, in 2022.
Sandy Griffith
Always drawn to science in one form or another, Sandy Griffith started college as a biochemistry major, but her clumsy nature lent itself better to handling data instead of beakers and chemicals. Throughout her career, she has gravitated toward applied medical research with the potential to affect the lives of patients. In her current role at Flatiron Health, Griffith works with real-world data derived from electronic health records in oncology. Her proudest moments have involved communicating complex statistical concepts to nonstatistical audiences in an approachable way by weaving in personal stories that carry emotional resonance.