Category: News
Statistician Finds Twitter Posts Largely Ignore Risks of Hookah Smoking
January 19, 2016
Social media can often portray life through rose-colored glasses, depicting an overwhelmingly positive version of reality. One statistician found this to be the case when it comes to hookah, a form of tobacco smoking that has become more popular among young people in recent years. Melissa J. Krauss, a research statistician at Washington University’s Department...
Hilary Parker Gets Crafty with Statistics in Her Not-So-Standard Job
January 11, 2016
We recently spoke with Hilary Parker, senior data analyst at Etsy and co-host of Not So Standard Deviations, a podcast about data science, with Roger Peng of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Hilary studied mathematics and microbiology at Pomona College and holds a PhD in Biostatistics from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public...
Data-Driven Government Means Greater Role for Statisticians, Says White House Chief Data Scientist
December 22, 2015
Statisticians have been the backbone of how the country has thought about data for years, and their role in an increasingly data-driven society will grow even more important, said White House Chief Data Scientist DJ Patil. Addressing one of the largest annual gatherings of statisticians, Dr. Patil told attendees of JSM2015 the field of statistics is changing, and that will...
Statistics Instruction Assumes Bigger Role in K12 Education
December 21, 2015
The demand for statisticians and data literacy has grown in recent years, and K12 educators are responding by providing more access to statistics education. A recent article by Alison DeNisco at District Administration magazine highlights this trend, including growth of AP statistics and elective statistics courses. DeNisco spoke with Jessica Utts—the American Statistical Association’s incoming...
Globe Trotting, Presenting and Teaching: It’s All in a Day’s Work for Statistics Professor Kimberly Sellers
December 01, 2015
The American Statistical Association recently spoke with Georgetown University Professor Kimberly Sellers to learn more about what it’s like to be a statistics professor. Below is an excerpt of the interview originally published in Amstat News. What or who inspired you to be a statistics professor? I was always drawn to a life in academia;...
Obama Campaign’s Data Chief on How Data Scientists Make a Difference
November 17, 2015
We recently spoke with Rayid Ghani, chief data scientist of President Obama’s 2012 election campaign and a senior fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. He’s also head of the Schmidt Data Science for Social Good Summer Fellowship. Rayid explained what it’s like to be a data scientist and how they can...
Forbes: Data Scientist Among Top Jobs in Engineering and IT
November 02, 2015
Those pursuing a career in engineering or information technology might want to consider a job in data science, writes Susan Adams of Forbes magazine. In her recent article, “The Best Jobs in Engineering and IT,” Adams writes about a CareeerCast.com report that ranks IT and engineering jobs according to hundreds of criteria related to salary,...
Wharton Statistics Program “Bursting at the Seams”
October 30, 2015
Enrollment in the statistics concentration at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has grown substantially in recent years, reports Sydney Schaedel of the Daily Pennsylvanian. Schaedel quotes Wharton statistics professor Jean Lemaire as saying, “Enrollment in statistics classes [at Wharton] has increased tremendously. We are bursting at the seams – we are understaffed.” According to...
Seattle Times: Statistics Careers are Hot
October 26, 2015
The Seattle Times has noticed statisticians are in high demand. And it’s no surprise – the Puget Sound area is a hot market for statisticians, where tech companies like Amazon, Zillow, Redfin and Microsoft compete for graduates with the ability to analyze and gain insights from Big Data. “There’s a vast volume of data available...
From English Major to Statistician: Meet Cassie DeWitt of the Detroit Fire Department
October 13, 2015
We recently spoke with statistician Cassie DeWitt about her job as a data analyst at the Detroit Fire Department, where she helps solve problems related to urban transitions and crises using quantitative and spatial analysis. She helps fight fires not with hoses or ladders, but tools from statistical science. Cassie’s story also is also interesting...