James McCune Smith was the first professionally trained Black physician to practice in the United States. Smith’s work pioneered the use of statistical evidence to evaluate the efficacy of medical treatments and dismantle racist claims of Black biological inferiority.
US Census
Quantifying Diversity: Calculating the Gini-Simpson Diversity Index
How do we measure diversity in a meaningful way? The Gini-Simpson Diversity Index, used by the US Census Bureau, provides a powerful tool to quantify diversity across populations.
Telling Our Stories of Innovation and Impact
In her column this month, Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar shares three stories about individuals using statistics and data science to make the world a better and more equitable place.
State of the Workforce Data Infrastructure
In the latest feature examining the state of the US data infrastructure, the Count on Stats team spoke with three experts on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Katharine Abraham was BLS commissioner from 1993–2001, and Erica Groshen was BLS commissioner from 2013–2017. Ken Poole is the chief executive officer of the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness and longtime and widely recognized leader in the BLS data user community.
Demystifying Apportionment Computations for the US House of Representatives
Basic arithmetic skill (multiplication, division, and taking square roots) is all one needs to remove any mystery concerning the details of the computations about how to determine the number of seats each state gets based on its population.
ASA Census at School Program Exceeds 50,000 Students
The American Statistical Association’s U.S. Census at School program —a free international classroom project that engages students in grades 4–12 in statistical problem solving using their own real data—has exceeded the milestone of 50,000 students.
FY17 Federal Budget Resolved; Trump’s FY18 Budget Request Released
Steve Pierson, ASA director of science policy, breaks down the government’s FY17 final budget and reviews the FY18 requested budgets for federal statistical agencies.