Claudia Clinchard shares how a psychology professor sparked her love of statistics and how she now aims to use data science to solve real-world problems.
Committee on Women in Statistics
Women’s Caucus Supports Inclusive Statistics, Data Science Community
The Caucus for Women in Statistics and Data Science promotes career advancement, professional visibility, and global collaboration for women in the field through conferences, advocacy, and educational initiatives.
JEDI Corner: So Much to Do, So Little Time
There is something for everyone in the JEDI-sponsored program at JSM this year.
Gertrude M. Cox Scholarship Applications Now Being Accepted
Applications are due February 23 for this scholarship, which was established to encourage women to enter statistically oriented professions.
Committee Spotlight: Committee on Women in Statistics
Amstat News is spotlighting ASA committees and their activities. This month, we feature the Committee on Women in Statistics and ask Chair Lucy D’Agostino McGowan and Vice Chair Eunice J. Kim a few questions about the committee’s purpose and goals.
Lucy D’Agostino McGowan
Lucy D’Agostino McGowan spent the beginning of her childhood in Boston, Massachusetts, and the rest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she lives today as a biostatistician, teacher, science communicator, podcaster, partner, mom, programmer, Disney enthusiast, and BB-8 builder. She fell in love with the statistics field after doing a Summer Institute in Biostatistics at Boston University. D’Agostino McGowan is also an avid statistical communicator. Her efforts in statistical communication span from op-eds about the current COVID-19 pandemic; a podcast in partnership with the American Journal of Epidemiology, Casual Inference; and outreach via social media. Her research focuses on causal inference, human-data interaction, and statistical communication. She is currently the chair of the ASA Committee on Women in Statistics and co-leads an effort with past-chair Stephanie Hicks to build community and engagement. Follow their Twitter feed at @WomeninStat.
Kimberly Flagg Sellers
Mathematics was always Kimberly Flagg Sellers’s favorite subject, and she recalls wanting a PhD in a math-related discipline at an early age. In fact, she graduated from high school at age 16 and earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics at age 20 on a full academic scholarship. An associate professor of mathematics and statistics at Georgetown University, Sellers is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute and an active contributor to efforts to diversify the fields of mathematical and statistical sciences.
Kimberly F. Sellers
Inspired to study statistics while earning her undergraduate degree, Kimberly Sellers has gone on to be recognized both nationally and internationally for her work on generalized statistical methods involving count data that contain data dispersion and image analysis techniques. She is also actively committed to diversifying the fields of mathematical and statistical sciences, both with respect to gender and race/ethnicity.
Gender Balance in ASA Activities Update
This article continues the tradition of looking at the representation of ASA women members among a range of activities supported by the ASA, using more recent data from September 2015. This report was written on behalf of the Committee on Women in Statistics (COWIS) with the primary objective to indicate areas where gender disparities have subsided, as well as highlight those areas where they persist.
Merit Matters Most: Meet Jean D. Gibbons
Here, Jean Gibbons, first chair of the Committee on Women in Statistics, talks about her life and her work as a statistician.