The Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate at the National Science Foundation will be releasing changes to several of its longstanding programs in the coming weeks.
NSF
James Rosenberger: A Collaborator Across Disciplines
James Rosenberger, director of the National Institute of Statistical Sciences, has been a statistical consultant for most of his career and recommends most academics involved in statistical consulting actually think of themselves as collaborators.
Statistics Education Project Wins Grand Prize in NSF Competition
Project SMILES, a statistics education research team, received a $3,000 grand prize in the National Science Foundation’s inaugural We Are Mathematics Video Competition during a ceremony at the NSF in May.
Amanda F. Mejia
Amanda F. Mejia started with limited financial resources at her disposal, but pursued scholarship and fellowship opportunities and earned her master’s as an industrial engineer. She soon discovered she wanted to learn more advanced analytical techniques and work toward a positive societal impact, so she returned to graduate school. As a professor today, she strives to emphasize the “why” of statistics before the “how” and to bring research problems into the classroom.
Cynthia Rudin
Cynthia Rudin became interested in machine learning because she wanted to predict the future. She is now associate professor of computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and statistics at Duke University and directs the Prediction Analysis Lab. In 2015, she was named one of the “Top 40 Under 40” by Poets and Quants and one of the 12 most impressive professors at MIT by Businessinsider.com.
ASA Hosts Summit to Discuss Data Science Curricula for Two-Year Colleges
Funded by the National Science Foundation in an award to the ASA, the Two-Year College Data Science Summit took place in the facilities of Booz Allen Hamilton in Arlington, Virginia, May 9–10. Seventy-three representatives from two-year colleges, four-year colleges and universities, government, and industry gathered to discuss the future of data science education at two-year colleges.
Census, NIH, NSF Among Winners in FY18 Federal Budget
Steve Pierson, ASA director of science policy, breaks down the federal budget and how it will affect research-funded agencies.
Hao Helen Zhang
Hao Helen Zhang was born and raised in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China. From a young age, she was passionate about mathematics. Since then, her research has been supported by NSF, NIH, and NSA. She also serves on several editorial boards of professional journals.
Xihong Lin
Xihong Lin gained an interest in statistics while working on her undergraduate thesis on analysis of time-series data. She currently works on whole genome sequencing association studies, genes and environment, integrative analysis of different types of data using causal mediation analysis, and analysis of electronic medical records.
Update from the Division of Mathematical Sciences
An update from the management team of the Division of Mathematical Sciences at the National Science Foundation touches on recent program activities from DMS and an outlook for the future.