Growing up in the Soviet Union, Regina Dolgoarshinnykh navigated scarce computing resources and skepticism of statistics. Today, she shapes students at Columbia with a classroom built on rigor, clarity, and purpose.
Columbia University
Qixuan Chen
Qixuan Chen’s journey into statistics was deeply inspired by her father, who pursued a self-taught degree in statistics while managing more than 100 employees, achieving the highest GPA in his class. Growing up on a beautiful island in southeast China, Chen was captivated by his explanation of the bell curve, sparking her passion for the field. She later earned advanced degrees in the United States and developed a research philosophy grounded in problem-driven methods, community engagement, and clear communication. As a dedicated educator and mentor, Chen finds joy in supporting students, believing—like her father—it’s never too late to achieve greatness.
Fourth ASA Survey of Bachelor’s Graduates Tracks Rapidly Evolving Job Market
With the emergence of data science, machine learning, and AI, much has changed in the job market since the American Statistical Association’s first follow-up survey of bachelor’s graduates in 2017. This fourth survey of the graduating class of 2023 covers many changes, as well as considerable consistency.
Q&A with Statistical Graphics Section Officers
We interviewed a few current and former officers of the Statistical Graphics Section to find out why statistical graphics are an important component of the profession. Here’s what they said.
Christophe Toukam Tchakoute
Christophe Toukam Tchakoute grew up in Cameroon during the peak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which is how he became interested in STEM. His interest was reinforced when he attended the University of Cape Town in South Africa and became curious about the chemistry and cell biology of HIV and how the virus can hijack the immune system for its own benefit. Consequently, he interned in the HIV/AIDS department at the World Health Organization and was introduced to epidemiology and biostatistics. He now works at Genentech and leverages statistics and real-world data to inform clinical trial design for different oncology programs.
Jack Youden
The impact of Jack’s work on the scientific community is most clearly defined in two main areas: experimental design and statistical analysis.
Obituaries for April 2023
ASA members Donald Young, Jane Gentleman, and Donald Guthrie passed away recently.
Amal Moussa
Born and raised in Lebanon, Amal Moussa holds a PhD in statistics, earned with distinction from Columbia University. Her thesis, “Contagion and Systemic Risk in Financial Networks,” shed light on the importance of the network structure in identifying systemic financial institutions and formulating regulatory policies and has been cited as a reference by former Federal Reserve president Janet Yellen. Moussa was also awarded the Minghui Yu Teaching Award at Columbia University.
Emil Gumbel
Gumbel, sometimes called an “apostle of peace,” tracked political assassinations—among other data—in Germany prior to the outbreak of WWII.
ASA to Cosponsor AI in Clinical Drug Development Symposium in May
The Pfizer/ASA/Columbia University Symposium on Risks and Opportunities of AI in Clinical Drug Development aims to advance the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in drug development and deployment.