Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sept 08 Am Stat News
Sept 08 Am Stat News
Making a Name:
Up-and-Coming Statisticians
on the Verge of Great Things
Statisticians in History
This month, I have invited Nathaniel Schenker of the National Center for Health Statistics to discuss how that
agency provides information about the nation’s health. Since before 1960, NCHS has monitored health statistics,
initially under the stewardship of Forrest Linder. It is a wonderful resource for data and information.
I
’ve spent the past nine years at the health topics, including vital events An NCHS statistician often works
National Center for Health and demography, health conditions as part of a team, together with other
Statistics (NCHS), having previ- and behaviors, access to and qual- statisticians as well as specialists
ously taught biostatistics at UCLA for ity of health care, and injuries and in areas such as computer science,
11 years and worked at the U.S. disabilities. Sources of NCHS data demography, economics, epidemi-
Census Bureau for three years before include birth and death certificates, ology, medicine, public health, and
that. NCHS, which is part of the as well as various sample surveys that sociology. There are ample opportu-
Centers for Disease Control and collect information via review of nities for individual research projects,
Prevention, is the nation’s principal medical records, personal interviews, as well. Moreover, collaborations fre-
health statistics agency. Its motto is physical and dental examinations, quently occur with researchers at other
“Monitoring the Nation’s Health,” and laboratory tests. federal and local government agencies,
and its mission is to provide statistical in industry, and in academia.
information that will guide actions ‘S’ Stands for ‘Statistics’
and policies to improve the health of Given that the “s” in NCHS stands for Mr. Academic Goes (Back) to
the American people. “statistics,” statisticians obviously have Washington
a major role in the work of the agency. When I decided to leave my tenured
Nathaniel What Is Done at NCHS? As do many agencies in the federal academic job in UCLA's Department
Schenker
When I used to take my infant son statistical system, NCHS has separate of Biostatistics in sunny California to
for a medical check-up, the pedia- divisions that focus on specific data col- return to the East Coast and work for
trician would plot his height and lection systems and topics. Statisticians the government, I was often asked,
weight on growth charts. Little did within these divisions work on the “Are you crazy? Why would you do
I know the charts were produced by design and implementation of the that?” Well, there were a number of
NCHS and were based primarily on data collections, analyses of the data, reasons, some of them personal, such
data from NCHS’ National Health and preparation of the data for release as my growing up in Washington and
and Nutrition Examination Survey to the public. Other statisticians (such the East Coast having a lot to offer.
(NHANES). Similarly, when cars as I) work in offices within the agency As a statistician, however, I was excit-
began to use unleaded gasoline, I that focus more on cross-cutting analy- ed by the prospect of working at the
didn’t realize the formulation of poli- ses and research and on the develop- source of health data that are impor-
cy to move away from leaded fuel was ment of statistical methodology, while tant and of interest to many outside
based on analyses of data on blood- also providing consultation to the data the agency. Indeed, at UCLA, I often
lead levels from the NHANES. (For divisions. Examples of methodologi- ran across NCHS data and researchers
more on this policy, see the President’s cal research areas at NCHS include analyzing them. Also, NCHS seemed
Invited Column in the May issue of optimal strategies for sample design, like a relatively small, friendly agency,
Amstat News). questionnaire design, modeling and so I didn’t feel as though I’d get lost
Indeed, NCHS collects and ana- estimation, data mining, developing working there. And, it seemed to have
lyzes data and produces information indexes of health, confidentiality, and a culture of conducting research, so
for the public on a wide range of handling missing data. I thought I’d be able to continue my
2 AMSTAT NEWS SEPTEMBER 2008
Kimiko Bowman
S
he could have been a horticulturist. She
had, after all, thought it would be exciting
to create new plants. But Kimiko Bowman,
better known by her byline as K. O. Bowman,
Val Snider chose to be a statistician and help develop a for-
ASA Publications Coordinator mula for approximating the distribution of max-
imum likelihood estimators.
It was by chance, really, that Bowman chose
statistics. Some might even say statistics chose
her. She began her college education majoring in
home economics at Radford College. “I wanted
to make sure I would graduate, and I thought
home economics would be relatively easy,” said
Bowman. “In my second year, the president of
the college called me into his office and advised
me to change my major to the science field. He
thought my future would be much better in sci-
ence. I [had] liked mathematics ever since I was a
small child, so I immediately changed my major
to math and chemistry.”
At Virginia Tech, Kimiko Bowman worked with L. R. Shenton, her thesis advisor, to provide a
formula for approximating the distribution of maximum likelihood estimators.
About a year later, Bowman graduated with a
bachelor’s degree and won a National Institutes
of Health fellowship in mathematical statistics space,” said Shenton. Bowman not only imple-
from Virginia Tech that sealed her interest in the mented the algorithm, but “it works, thanks
statistics profession. Three years after that, she to Dr. Bowman,” said Shenton.
had in hand a master’s degree and PhD in sta- Bowman’s life wasn’t all work, however. She also
tistics. She completed her education with a doc- found time to be a strong advocate for those with
“One
torate in mathematical engineering from Tokyo disabilities. She served on the National Science
University, but it was during her time at Virginia Foundation Equal Opportunities in Science and must not
Tech that her research really took hold. Engineering advisory committee and Committee
Bowman met L. R. Shenton, her thesis on People with Disabilities. She wrote a report
lose sight of
advisor, at Virginia Tech and—for the next while chairing the latter that resulted in grants what we want
45 years—worked with him to provide a for- being set aside to provide accommodation or
mula for approximating the distribution of special equipment for people with disabilities— to accomplish.
maximum likelihood estimators. They suc- which helped promote their participation in sci- So, I tried
ceeded by developing formulae for skewness ence and engineering at NSF.
and kurtosis statistics of maximum likelihood Bowman also chaired the Statistical Tracking of not to worry
estimators with respect to sample size and by Employment of People with Disabilities task force about slights
developing an approximation formula for the for the President’s Committee on Employment of
People with Disabilities. Her main duty was to or insignificant
”
percentage points of Pearson distributions.
By combining the two results, Bowman and monitor the questionnaire for Census 2000 so things.
Shenton were able to approximate the distri- relevant questions were asked about people with
bution of maximum likelihood estimators. disabilities and accurate results were obtained.
Another important accomplishment was Perhaps her interest in being a champion for
successfully implementing a divergent series people with disabilities stems from the physical
algorithm for large computers. “In sampling, hardships she, herself, has overcome. In her youth,
statistics series like this often occur, and the Bowman suffered from polio that paralyzed
algorithm for the coefficients is extremely her from the neck down. Doctors told her she
complicated and reaches four-dimensional would never walk again, but after two years of
SEPTEMBER 2008 AMSTAT NEWS 5
rehabilitation, she was walking. Gladys Reynolds, In an effort to do more for minorities in
a statistician and good friend of Bowman’s from the statistics profession, Bowman also became
her Virginia Tech years, said, “I want to highlight a contributing editor to the Current Index to
her determination and perseverance. … In 1980, Statistics in 1977 and continued in this position
she was having polio-like symptoms and was for more than 10 years. During that time, she
diagnosed with Post Polio Syndrome. In spite translated articles from Japanese journals into
of this, she has continued to be as active and English, added keywords and abstracts, and
proliferate as always.” included them in the index. She also was asked
Bowman considers herself a “triple minority,” to go to Japan as a liaison scientist for the Office
being an Asian and a woman, as well as someone of Naval Research. She initially went for three
who suffers the effects of polio. “There were months, but continued to visit throughout her
many struggles I had to overcome,” Bowman career. In 1987, she was invited to attend the
said. “However, one must not lose sight of what International Statistical Institute meeting in
we want to accomplish. So, I tried not to worry Tokyo and to give a keynote address at the satellite
about slights or insignificant things.” meeting at Mt. Fujiyama. During the meetings,
Instead, she became one of the first women she received an audience with the Crown Prince
to be elected Fellow of the American Statistical and Princess of Japan—an unforgettable memory
Association in 1976, worked hard to advance sci- for her.
entific research using statistics, advised a number of In 1994, Bowman retired from Oak Ridge
graduate students, and published three books and National Laboratory as a senior research sci-
approximately 200 papers. One of those papers, entist. Retirement has not slowed her down,
“Tables for Determining Statistical Significance however. She continues to be a guest scientist
of Mutation Frequencies,” coauthored with M. A. in the Computational Sciences and Engineering
Kastenbaum, received a Citation Classic in 1989 Division at Oak Ridge, working on research in
for being the fourth most-cited paper in the his- distributional properties of estimators and test
statistics under non-normal sampling. She also
tory of Mutation Research, an international jour-
consults with colleagues within Oak Ridge on
nal. Additionally, Bowman is an elected fellow of
aspects of statistics such as procedures for validat-
the American Association for the Advancement ing computer models in economics and stochas-
of Science (1970), an elected member of the tic models in epidemiology and biology. In the
International Statistical Institute (1978), and an words of Reynolds, “As a woman, minority, and
elected fellow of the Institute of Mathematical a person with a disability, she has certainly been
Statistics (1987). an inspiration and mentor to many of us in the
scientific community.” ■
6 AMSTAT NEWS SEPTEMBER 2008
Interview with
Irene Hess
Sampling Is in
the Details
I
da Irene Hess was born in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Her father was a mining engineer in Central
City. Her mother, who graduated from Valparaiso College with her father, worked at home. After
graduating from Indiana University, Hess returned to Central City to teach math and English at the
local junior high school from 1932 to 1942. In 1940, she came to work with Leslie Kish at the Survey
Research Center. Under Kish, she trained many graduate students in the details of sampling. The following
is an interview with Hess, conducted in February 2008 by Fritz Scheuren, an ASA past-president.
[Scheuren] Irene, it is so good to see you well and still active pro-
fessionally at 97. Thanks for letting me interview you for all your
many friends and colleagues who want to catch up with all you
have done. Can we start with something about your family and
early life before you came to the University of Michigan?
[Hess] I grew up in Kentucky. In addition to my parents, I had
one sister, Beulah Marie. I was at Evansville College three years
and then went to Indiana University for one year for a bachelor’s
Fritz Scheuren degree, but that’s the only degree I have. I guess you want me to
talk about my start as a sampler?
[Scheuren] Well, of course, but a little more please about what
you did before that. Didn’t you teach in high school?
[Hess] No, I taught in junior high school in Central City,
Kentucky. I was really not happy doing something like that,
though. I was always interested in mathematics, and I would have
liked teaching mathematics at a higher level. And, when you are
teaching in public school, you first know that you’re to teach chil-
dren. And I really didn’t enjoy that. I couldn’t enjoy grade-school
Irene Hess (left and above) worked at the U.S. Census Bureau during the late ‘50s and stayed
there until her retirement in 1981.
Michigan, but his assistant was going to get married and move
away and Kish needed somebody else. I was recommended to
Kish and he wrote to me. In the meantime, at the [U.S.] Census
Bureau, I think at least twice, when I came to work in the morn-
ing, they told me I should leave. I had no retention points to
justify my continuing employment at the [U.S.] Census Bureau.
(When a person returned from military service, that person had
mathematics. I did not want to be responsible for teaching chil- to be re-employed.)
dren and encouraging them in what I would consider to be the [Scheuren] They were laying off people?
‘right way.’
So, I decided to try for statistical employment in the federal [Hess] Yes, that was because of the return of veterans from the
government. But to pass the civil service exam, you had to have war, and every time someone came back and had to have a job,
a minimum of six hours in statistics and I did not have that, so I they selected me to lay off. That happened twice. Joe Steinberg
went about getting it. I considered Indiana first, but there wasn’t worked hard to get me back each time. Anyway, on one Good
anything there that interested me at that time. I was aware of Iowa. Friday evening, I walked into my apartment and picked up my
Leslie [Kish] asked me once why I didn’t go to Iowa. I didn’t tell him mail and there was this communication from Leslie Kish out here
why, but my mother’s parents lived in Iowa. It was always so hot in Michigan.
in Iowa in the summer, so I just wouldn’t consider going to school When I got the letter, I felt it was going to be a job offer and
in Iowa because I just couldn’t take that heat. I ordered catalogues I knew that I was going to take it, but I didn’t want to. I liked
from several universities—Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky, per- Washington and I always liked the [U.S.] Census Bureau. I
haps others. I came to Michigan two summers (1940, 1941). That responded to Leslie’s letter, and he invited me here to look around.
is how I got my six hours in statistics, and that was what I needed I’ve been here ever since, and that was 1954. In 1981, I retired. I’ve
for the civil service exam, which I passed. been retired for 27 years.
[Scheuren] And you came to Washington after that? [Scheuren] But you’ve been working here as a retired person,
every weekday ever since? That’s a real compliment to you
[Hess] Yes, it was right after the start of World War II in December and to the center.
and there was a civil service exam in May. The Bureau of Labor
Statistics sent out invitations, and that’s what I applied for and [Hess] Well it has been a long time. The way it began was I had
went first to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Then, I was at the started this book [on sampling]. We had some very complex sam-
Bureau of Standards for a short time when they were developing ple designs for various projects and it bothered me that nobody else
the proximity fuse for bombs in the war. When the war was over, I around here knew anything about the sampling activities. So, I had
decided I better get away from the Bureau of Standards. Of course, written or was working on that book, Sampling for Social Survey
I had already been here, at Michigan, for two years because I was Research Surveys, 1947–1980. I decided to stay and finish it.
really interested in statistics. So, I went out to the [U.S.] Census
[Scheuren] So, that is how you are continuing to work after retire-
Bureau and talked to somebody out there. They were just organiz-
ment? What came next that kept you coming here every day?
ing the first sampling section at the [U.S.] Census Bureau.
Anyway, I joined the sampling section at the [U.S.] Census [Hess] Roe Goodman. I don’t know if you were ever acquainted
Bureau around 1944 or something like that. I was there until with Goodman.
I came here in 1954. Kish was in charge of sampling here in
[Scheuren] No, I wasn’t, but I know of his work.
8 AMSTAT NEWS SEPTEMBER 2008
C
hao-sheng Lee can be described as one of the most out-
standing people in Taiwan’s present statistical community.
His 40-year career of teaching and research has resulted in
nearly 100 academic papers in well-known international periodi-
cals. The National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) Graduate
Institute of Statistics, where Lee established himself when he
returned from the United States, has become a cornerstone for the
development of Taiwan’s growing statistical academic circles. The Prepared by the
NCTU Graduate Institute of Finance, which Lee helped estab- Institute of Statistics,
lish, has provided Taiwan’s financial sector with the talent needed National Chiao Tung University
for growth and innovation.
Lee graduated from National Taiwan University’s Department
of Business in 1964 and received his master’s in economics from
the University of Rochester in 1969. He studied under Seymour
Geisser at The State University of New York, Buffalo, and received
his PhD in statistics in 1972. Upon completing his education, he
began his teaching career at the University of Minnesota, and then
taught at Wright State University, as well as other universities, for
many years. He then went to Bell Labs and devoted himself to
research in economics and statistics.
Building a
Department
P
aul Dixon Minton was born in Dallas, at SMU in the Department of Mathematics. It
Texas, the third of four sons in the family was at that point that Minton was introduced to
of William M. and Addie Evelyn Croft probability and statistics by Edwin Mouzon, who
Minton. Having grown up in the economically had, himself, written a dissertation on statistics
difficult times of the Great Depression, he was at the University of Illinois. After completing
able to attend college only because he received an his master’s degree, Minton was encouraged by
“emergency scholarship” to attend Southern Mouzon to continue his graduate studies in the
Methodist University (SMU). The university was new program in statistics at The University of
experiencing its own difficulties, struggling to fill North Carolina.
Dwight B. Brock,
Westat classes, and decided to offer such scholarships to Minton earned a PhD in statistics from
young Dallasites who had done well in high North Carolina State University under the
school, were recommended by their principals, tutelage of Gertrude Cox, during the time the
and could not otherwise afford to go to school. Institute of Statistics of the Greater University
Minton earned a bachelor’s and master’s of North Carolina consisted of the Department
degree from SMU, a school to which he would of Mathematical Statistics at UNC Chapel Hill
return later to found and direct a department of and the Department of Experimental Statistics
statistics. His studies were interrupted by World at NC State in Raleigh. Many famous statisti-
War II, during which time he worked as a crypta- cians were either faculty members or visitors
nalyst for the FBI. Following the war, he returned when Minton was a student there, including
to Dallas as an instructor and graduate student R. A. Fisher, Harold Hotelling, William Cochran,
Mollie Orshansky:
M
ollie Orshansky was born on January 9, A daughter from a poor family graduating from
1915, in the Bronx in New York City. college during the Great Depression, Orshansky did
She was the daughter of Ukrainian- not have the luxury of attending graduate school
Jewish immigrants who spoke limited English. before she started working. Instead, she found a job
Although her father worked hard at a number of as a statistical clerk in the New York Department of
jobs, Orshansky and her sisters grew up poor—in Health’s Bureau of Nursing, where she worked on
her words, the family could “barely … make ends infant mortality and other subjects for a year.
Gordon M. Fisher meet.” The girls slept two to a bed and wore hand- In 1936, the U.S. Children’s Bureau (then part of
me-down clothing. Orshansky remembered going the U.S. Department of Labor) offered Orshansky a
with her mother to stand in relief lines for surplus job as a junior statistical clerk. She accepted the job,
food. As she was to say later, “If I write about the moving from New York to Washington, DC. Her
poor, I don’t need a good imagination—I have a first job assignment involved logarithmic equations
good memory.” for 600 infants who had been in a study. In July
Orshansky was both the first high-school 1939, the bureau promoted her to research clerk, a
graduate and first college graduate in her family. job in which she stayed until January 1942, work-
She graduated from Hunter College High School ing on biometric studies of child health, growth,
in Manhattan (then a school for gifted young and nutrition.
women) in 1931. Because she received two schol- It was while she was working at the U.S.
arships from the college, she was able to attend Children’s Bureau that Orshansky began taking
Hunter College (at that time a women’s college). graduate courses. At various times between 1936–
She graduated from Hunter in 1935 with an AB 1937 and 1960, she took courses in economics and
in mathematics and statistics. She was a statistician statistics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture
by training and profession, although she has some- Graduate School and American University. From
times been referred to as an economist. January 1942 to March 1943, Orshansky took a job
Mollie Orshansky (third from left) at the first Conference on Women in the War on Poverty on May 8, 1967. With her are Mary Keyserling, Josephine
Weiner, and Hyman Bookbinder. Near the end of her speech, Orshansky said, “…our statistics, imperfect though they may be, show us where prob-
lems are even if they cannot always reveal exact dimensions…[C]alculations … relating to poverty … exist only to help make them disappear, and so
if we can think bold solutions and dream the big dream, we can wipe out the scourge of poverty before we all agree on how to measure it.”
with $2,900 income … would be considered poor, but a family with Orshansky was a member of this group. The technical working group
a husband, wife, and four little children with $3,100 income would reviewed and contributed to the plan for what became the Income
not be.” In addition, the president’s declaration of a war on poverty Survey Development Program—the research and development phase
evidently led SSA to give a higher priority to Orshansky’s poverty for the Survey of Income and Program Participation.
work. As a result, Orshansky’s supervisors asked her to do an analysis In 1982, Orshansky retired from SSA after a government career
extending her families-with-children poverty thresholds to the whole that lasted for more than 40 years. She died on December 18, 2006,
population. She completed this analysis in late 1964 and it was pub- in New York City.
lished in the Social Security Bulletin in January 1965 as “Counting the Orshansky received a number of honors for her achievements.
Poor: Another Look at the Poverty Profile.” She received a Commissioner’s Citation from the Social Security
The publication of Orshansky’s January 1965 article came when Administration in 1965 for her creative research and analytical work
the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO)—the lead agency for and the Distinguished Service Award (the department’s highest recog-
the War on Poverty—was being set up. OEO officials were enthusi- nition of civilian employees) from HEW in 1976 for her “leadership
astic about Orshansky’s poverty thresholds, considering them to be in creating the first nationally accepted measures of income adequa-
an advance over the CEA’s $3,000-for-all-family-sizes figure. OEO cy and applying them diligently and skillfully to public policy.” In
research chief Joseph Kershaw commented, “Mollie Orshansky says 1974, she was elected a Fellow of the ASA for her leadership in the
that when you have more people in the family, you need more money. development of statistics for the measurement of poverty. After her
Isn’t that sensible?” In May 1965, OEO adopted Orshansky’s thresh- retirement, she received a national award from the Children’s Defense
olds as a working definition of poverty for statistical, planning, and Fund in 1989 and an Award for Distinguished Contribution from the
budget purposes, and, in August 1969, her thresholds were made the American Political Science Association in 1993.
federal government’s official statistical definition of poverty. Orshansky’s achievements also were recognized in a very different
When she developed the poverty thresholds, Orshansky was “an setting. She may be the only statistician to have been discussed on a
obscure civil servant” who worked “[d]own a dimly lit hall, among major television show. One subplot of “The Indians in the Lobby,”
stacks of computer printouts [at] a paper-covered desk …” However, an episode of “The West Wing” originally broadcast in November
after her thresholds were adopted as the federal government’s poverty 2001, involved the adoption of a new poverty measure, and one char-
line, she became much more well known. Because of frequent citations acter alluded to how Orshansky developed the current poverty mea-
of her work in academic articles and books, someone once referred to sure. While the discussion of issues relating to a new poverty measure
her as “the ubiquitous footnote.” Besides presenting papers at a num- sounded plausible, the episode grossly mischaracterized the rationale
ber of professional meetings and publishing a number of articles, she for Orshansky’s methodology for developing the poverty thresholds.
testified and/or provided written documents to congressional commit- Of the contributions to American public policy that Orshansky
tees on 10 occasions between December 1967 and 1990. made during her career, the greatest by far was her development of the
On five occasions between 1968 and 1980, Orshansky participated poverty thresholds. The poverty line has become a major feature of
in federal interagency committees that reviewed the poverty thresh- the architecture of American social policy. Although the measure may
olds. The 1968–1969 committee made two modest revisions in have its shortcomings, the poverty line gives us a means of identifying
the thresholds, and it was the thresholds with these revisions that and analyzing the makeup of the groups in our society with the least
were made the official federal statistical definition of poverty. In resources. Orshansky’s thoughtful analyses of the poverty population
1981, several minor changes recommended by the 1979–1980 began a tradition, and there are now numerous researchers and advo-
committee were made. cates who conduct such analyses and draw policy implications from
Following up on a 1973 subcommittee’s recommendation for a them. Even though there may not be consensus on answers, the ques-
new income survey vehicle, the HEW Technical Working Group on tion “How does it affect the poor?” has become a test for proposed
income data and models proposed that a new survey be developed policies and programs. And a simplified version of the poverty line is
to provide better information on the income and related characteris- used to determine eligibility not only for certain federal programs, but
tics of the population and on participation in government programs. for a number of state, local, and private programs, as well. ■
Did you know your ASA membership includes online access to the
Journal of the American Statistical Association
Journal of Business & Economic Statistics
and
The American Statistician?
F
irst, let me say I am flattered to be invited to write about my
career in statistics. I do not know if many readers will find it
interesting, but I do know it has evolved along a path that
may be viewed as a reflection of the evolution of our field.
What I have become is a stochastic modeler. In particular,
a modeler whose primary focus is in the area of environmental
processes, including ecological systems, exposure assessment, and
climate processes. A common ingredient of this analysis is the col-
lection of data across space and, often, across time. I am usually
studying a complex process with different types of information—
theoretical results drawn from physical principles, mechanistic
insights based on knowledge of aspects of process function, and
empirical knowledge as a result of previous data collection and
relevant laboratory and field experiments.
I imagine the process is described at multiple levels, with the
foregoing information entering in at different places and lev-
els. I typically represent the process through an acyclic-directed
graph with some nodes observed and others unknown, and then
I infer about the unknown nodes given the observed nodes. I
formulate the joint model in a hierarchical fashion driven by
the graph and fill in the stochastic details needed to complete
the model specification. In essence, a stochastic modeler seeks
the posterior distribution of what we don’t know given what we
have observed, so we usually fit these graphical models within
the Bayesian framework.
It has emerged, more clearly than ever, that such modeling is
my greatest strength as a statistician. Moreover, being part of a
team of researchers assembled to ‘brainstorm’ a complex prob-
lem is an exceptionally stimulating and rewarding activity. In
this setting, the modeler becomes a central player in synthesizing
inputs from team members, shaping progress on the problem,
and becoming a richer scientist as a result.
I think this research view serves as a contemporary perspective
of our field. The team research concept, which it presumes, dra-
matically revises the role of the statistician from someone brought
in at the end to carry out data analysis and create ‘pretty’ pictures.
Rather, the statistician is able to illuminate what we can learn with
what we have, as well as what we need to collect to learn about
what we want. In the midst of all this, it is essential that the mod-
eler retain technical rigor, attention to detail, and appreciation of
the properties and features encompassed by the modeling.
LATEX
LATEX
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MacKichan
SOFTWARE, INC.
On Becoming a Teacher
Daren Starnes, The Lawrenceville School
A
s a fledgling mathematician, I was blessed to learn from sev-
eral outstanding teachers. First and foremost, there was
Sammi Yopp, my second-grade teacher at the North Carolina
Charlotte Country Day School. Yopp sparked my mathematical
curiosity and cajoled me into playing chess as a means of honing my
analytic thinking skills. Several years later, my mathematical abilities
were challenged by Sue Sams, my ninth-grade honors algebra II/
trigonometry teacher at East Mecklenburg High School. Sams was,
to put it mildly, a disciple of Mary P. Dolciani. The following year,
I landed in the classroom of another Dolciani disciple, Roger
Bruwhel at West Charlotte High School. Bruwhel was the one who
encouraged me to leave my comfort zone by applying to the North
Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM). Off to
NCSSM I went, where I was surrounded by a host of talented
“mathletes,” budding scientists, and computer programmers. As a
junior sitting in Dan Teague’s “Calculus with Topics” class one day,
I made the decision to become a high-school math teacher. Why?
Because I witnessed firsthand the tremendous passion, thirst for
1
understanding, and knack for asking just the right question at the
right moment that allows great teachers such as Teague to inspire
students to do extraordinary things.
From NCSSM, I went on to pursue a bachelor’s of science in
mathematics with secondary teaching certification at the University
of North Carolina, Charlotte (UNCC). At the time, UNCC was
a teaching university, which enabled me to take all my classes with
professors from the outset. At the urging of my professors, I par-
ticipated in Budapest Semesters in Mathematics, where I fell in
love with combinatorics and probability. Having never left the
southern United States until that moment, I admit to experiencing
a healthy dose of culture shock as a westerner in what was then
socialist Budapest.
From Eastern Europe, I accepted an offer to join a graduate
program in pure mathematics at the University of Michigan. As I
was nearing the end of my master’s degree requirements, it became
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AMSTAT
AMSTAT
NEWS
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”
conferences. Robinson got me started as a writer, having himself
els who have shaped my thinking. authored several children’s books about ecological topics. More
than anything, Robinson convinced me to “get out there” as a con-
tributing member of my profession.
When our youngest son graduated from CCDS, my wife and
clear to me that my interests had shifted dramatically away from I headed west to The Webb Schools in California to begin the
classical pure mathematics in the direction of research methods, next chapter in our lives. I assumed leadership of the mathematics
combinatorics and graph theory, and statistics. Ironically, my only department, and with the support of some exceptional colleagues,
statistical coursework to that point was a calculus-based probability began to tweak the existing curriculum. We dissolved our existing
and statistics course as a sophomore at UNCC. Having reached an geometry course and created an integrated geometry with algebra
important fork in the road, I opted to end my relationship with course that continues to evolve today. In addition, we added a cap-
pure math and begin my high-school teaching career. stone course for our most talented math students titled “Calculus-
Charlotte Country Day School (CCDS) was my proving Based Probability and Statistics.”
ground, the place where I learned the craft of teaching from sup- Externally, my role with the College Board expanded dramati-
portive colleagues such as Tim Timson, Sheila McGrail, and Sue cally. I led four or five one-day workshops for AP Statistics teachers
Schwartz. My interest in curriculum development blossomed. every year and a similar number of week-long summer institutes.
CCDS launched the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, and These opportunities to help coach other teachers gave me a chance
I volunteered to take on the IB Higher Level Math course. In my to share some of the lessons I learned in the trenches. At the same
fifth year there, McGrail and I designed a course called “Probability, time, interacting with other highly motivated professionals encour-
Statistics, and Finite Math” to better serve the needs of students aged me to further refine my own teaching.
In the summer of 1998, I began reading AP Statistics exams.
Every year since, I have attended this annual gathering of high-
Environmental Section school and college/university statistics teachers, which some of us
refer to fondly as “stats summer camp.” For the past eight years,
Upcoming ENVR Workshop! I have been privileged to serve as part of the reading leadership
team, first as a table leader and, more recently, as a question leader.
Needless to say, reading hundreds of exam papers every day is not
What: Statistical Issues in Monitoring the Environment
the highlight of the experience for most of us. Instead, it’s the tre-
When: October 22–24, 2008 mendous opportunity to network with like-minded professionals
Where: National Center for Atmospheric Research who have amassed an abundance of content knowledge and a host
(NCAR), Boulder, Colorado of resources for teaching introductory statistics. There are abundant
opportunities for discourse during breaks, at lunch, in the evening
This workshop covers state-of-the-art applications and social lounge, and at various nightly professional events. Truth be
statistical methods in environmental monitoring. Sessions told, some of my best conversations about statistics teaching have
on applications include monitoring in ecology, monitor- taken place at AAA baseball games.
ing in air quality, monitoring of aquatic resources, and Shortly after my wife and I moved west, Dan Yates contacted
monitoring of climate change and its impacts. The spa- me about assisting him with some of the calculator features in the
tio-temporal data collected in environmental monitoring second edition of The Practice of Statistics, the successful high-
present interesting and challenging statistical problems, school AP Statistics textbook he coauthored with David Moore.
such as modeling of space-time correlation, analysis Having spent three years co-editing the Technology Tips column in
of the huge amount of correlated data, and analysis of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ (NCTM) maga-
high-frequency monitoring data. Technical sessions will zine, Mathematics Teacher, I felt comfortable accepting this role as
cover recent developments in statistical methods for envi- a minor contributor in the writing process. Somewhere along the
ronmental data. A one-day short course on the analysis of way, I mentioned to Yates that I had a few suggested enhance-
spatial and spatio-temporal data will be offered and taught ments to the text based on my experiences as a user. To my surprise,
by Doug Nychka. There also will be a poster session. Poster he called my bluff and asked me to compose a revised version of
abstracts need to be submitted by September 23, 2008. Chapter 1 that incorporated my recommendations. Doing so took
For more information, contact Hao Zhang, Department of far longer than I had expected, with many false starts along the
Statistics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906; (765) way. The net result of my efforts was a 120-page tome disguised
496-9548; zhanghao@purdue.edu. as a single textbook chapter. With a typical dose of his southern
charm, Yates quipped, “You know, if chapters were this long, we’d
have to package the book with a wheelbarrow.” In the end, I was
OKLAHOMA
ARIZONA
NEW MEXICO
Willis Jensen
W.L. Gore & Associates
Flagstaff, Arizona
Stephanie Lopez Cano
“ I’m the primary statistician for a The University of Texas
portion of a medical device San Antonio, Texas
TEXAS
Graphic by Val Snider
manufacturing company. ” “Aside from teaching statistics in
the classroom, I am director of the
Statistical Consulting Center. ”
“I teach statistics to
undergraduates and research
MAINE
statistical applications in
Robert public health. ”
Kabacoff
Management Research Group
Luke Davulis
VERM
Portland, Maine
Maine Department of Labor
“ I use statistics to develop Augusta, Maine
NEW
ONT
predictive models of leadership
MINNESOTA “ I work at gathering the data HAMPSHIRE
success in various industries and
that form estimates of
”
job functions.
employment and wages by MASSACHUSETTS
WISCONSIN
occupation.
NEW YORK
” RHODE
ISLAND
MICHIGAN
CONNECTICUT
PENNSYLVANIA
NEW JERSEY
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OHIO
INDI
DELAWARE
ANA
Cindy Ammons
ILLINOIS WEST Schools
Chapel Hill-Carrboro MARYLAND
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“I teach AP Statistics to
high-school students.”
MISSOURI
KENTUCKY WASHINGTON, DC
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CAROLINA
TENNESSEE
James Hardin SOUTH
OMA ARKANSAS CAROLINA
University of South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina
They Doing?
RID
A
F
or about a decade now, the Department of Statistics at North
Carolina State University has been hiring faculty in career
path, non-tenure-track teaching positions. These positions
were first called clinical assistant professor positions, but have since
been renamed teaching assistant professors. These positions are
unusual in that they are not tenure-track, but they do have a career
track, unlike instructor, lecturer, or adjunct positions found at
many universities in the United States. Thus, a teaching assistant
professor has the opportunity to be promoted to a teaching associ-
ate professor and a teaching professor. For simplicity, I’ll refer to a
person in any of these positions as a TAP and to tenure-track or
tenured faculty as TT faculty.
30 30 AMSTAT
AMSTAT NEWS
NEWS SEPTEMBER
SEPTEMBER 20082008
T
his article is based on a talk I gave at the
JSM 2007 meeting for the ASA Committee academic career. So, I refer new faculty members
David L. Banks,
on Career Development. But, I should to that, and, in this article, shall focus on topics
Department of Statistical
Science, Duke University confess at the outset that I have no particular qual- that apply to everyone, not just recent PhDs and
ifications or any expertise on this topic, aside from not just academics.
having held a lot of jobs (which ought to raise Although statisticians are relatively homoge-
questions about my suitability in the first place). neous in our training, we have the usual range of
Years ago, I was involved in drafting the New talents, personalities, and utility functions. This
Researchers’ Survival Guide (available at www. creates many career paths and many ways to be
imstat.org/publications). Reading over it again, we successful. It also means you can be miserable if
were awfully earnest and a bit naïve, but I think it you get caught on a path that doesn’t fit your per-
sonal strengths and values.
“hold
turnaround on such items (phone calls, on the television show “West Wing.”
Most of us will emails, appointments, referee reports) Most of us will hold many jobs. Our chief assets
helps in other aspects of one’s career. are reputation, capability, and social capital—not
many jobs. seniority. So, when one moves on, try to leave only
Our chief assets Time Management. When I was friends behind—it isn’t always easy, as changing jobs
a young faculty member at Carnegie is usually prompted by dissatisfaction, but, after a
are reputation, Mellon, Jay Kadane shared with me this few years, things will seem less intense. My sense is
advice: Carry a pocket diary and mark that no organization is more than two bad manag-
capability, and down everything you need to do. But, also ers (in time or hierarchy) away from meltdown, so
social capital— realize everyone goofs off some (except it is good to have an exit plan. And, each time you
”
maybe Peter Hall and David Dunson). change jobs, you get the chance to learn new skills
not seniority. So, don’t waste time feeling guilty about and make new friends; most of us can advance faster
wasting time—just be efficient when you by moving than by staying. In terms of long-range
actually get down to work. planning, you need to think at least two moves
ahead to achieve significant career growth, and you
Someone else would probably generate a should choose those moves to ensure an ironclad
slightly different list, but these are all key areas résumé for the position you ultimately want.
to cultivate. For those who need to stick in their job, there
One situation where many people damage are still ways to advance. Personality counts for a
their careers is at internal business meetings. lot. Try to pretend to be happy and productive.
Always be concise. Try to read the interper- Read the newspaper so you have a wealth of con-
sonal dynamics—you need to hear the sub- versation topics and aren’t stereotypically dull or
text, read the body language, and notice what narrow. You should avoid doomed projects, those
doesn’t get said. Do not pursue pet projects or that do not build new professional assets, and those
raise dead issues—the way to lobby for those is for which you are not central. I’d recommend look-
through one-on-one talks, and it can be a slow ing for projects that cross division boundaries—it
process to build support. helps to have a broad base of good opinion, and
When I joined the National Institute of you can build unique collaborations the organi-
Standards and Technology, Lynne Hare advised zation needs. When David Blackwell introduced
me to “avoid other people’s nonsense.” Help keep Cuthbert Daniel to the Berkeley statistics depart-
meetings focused; people loathe those who, often ment, he said “This man is worth 10 of us—not
because he is better, but because he is different.”
So, try to differentiate yourself. Think of at least
one new idea a week, but be properly skeptical
of its value.
Dalene Stangl
Director, Professor of the Practice of Statistics
and Public Policy, Duke University
Editor, Reviews of Books and Teaching
Materials, The American Statistician
Julie Legler
Director, Statistics Program,
3. Introduction to Design and Analysis of
Experiments by George Cobb
or Media Savvy?
Are You Media Shy…
Rosanne Desmone,
ASA Public Relations Specialist
W
hile many of the people I’ve quoted below, while others are incorporat-
worked with would sooner have ed into the text. One of the journalists who
several teeth pulled than do a uses our experts list fairly frequently is Carl
media interview, others take to the process Bialik, The Wall Street Journal’s Numbers
like a duck to water. The basic difference Guy. I asked Bialik what he was looking for
between the two attitudes seems to be the when he spoke with an expert and included
individual’s confidence in his or her ability his answers in the sections below. Bialik also
to control the interview. They would rather said he wanted an expert willing to give
run the other way than get involved in a an overall assessment of the statistical rela-
situation where they might be misquoted or tionship or statistical techniques used in a
misrepresented. The good news, however, is paper he’s covering, rather than addressing
that every media-shy person can become a few minor quibbles … the big picture, so
media savvy with a little knowledge and to speak. In general, this is a good point to
practice. You can learn how to be more in remember for every interview.
control of an interview and to understand Below are some guidelines to help you
what the interviewer wants and needs. become a media savvy interviewee.
Sir Laurence Olivier attributed his suc-
cess to two things: the confidence to per- Respect deadlines, but buy
form and the humility to prepare. some time to think.
Six months ago, the ASA unveiled its The first point on Bialik’s list of what he
Media Experts Program, and we have had looks for when he speaks to an expert is
good feedback from the media who have “awareness of the importance of deadlines.”
used it. Some of our experts have had a That said, however, if you’re asked to do an
great deal of media experience, and I asked interview, buy a little time. Ask what the
them for their best advice on doing media editor/writer wants to discuss, and don’t
interviews. Some of their comments are do the interview until you can think about
Research Interests:
Liza Levina’s interests center on inference for high-dimensional
data, including large p small n problems, covariance estimation,
dimension reduction, and networks.
Name a statistician you admire and What do you hate most about
tell us why. your profession?
If I’m supposed to name a historical figure here, The same things that everyone else does—papers
I would pick Fisher, but the most honest answer getting rejected, particularly by incompetent ref-
would have to be my advisor, Peter Bickel. Not erees. Dealing with bureaucracy. The time pres-
only because of his work, but because of the great sure of tenure track. Also, that every doctor and
positive influence he’s had on so many people’s nurse I’ve ever met felt obliged to tell me how
lives and careers. much they hated statistics in college.
What do you love most about What was the best career advice you
your profession? were given?
When something you’ve been struggling with Co-advising graduate students. We have all had
finally works, be it a proof or a piece of code. conversations with colleagues that end in “we
When you are collaborating with someone and should really talk more about this,” and then
know that, together, you are doing work neither nothing happens because no one has time. But,
of you could have produced on your own. When if you get a joint student, then the collaboration
a student just understood something you’ve been really will happen.
explaining and you can see it’s a fascinating revela-
tion for them. Of course, all these things are not What is one web site/blog you can’t
unique to statistics. As for statistics, itself, the fact go a day without visiting?
that almost everyone needs it is a nice bonus. None. After my daughter was born (she’s almost
three now), my free time has become much too
scarce to spend it on reading blogs.
Age: 42
Title: Biostatistician
What do you hate most about
Employer: USDA your profession?
Agricultural Research What I dislike most about the statistical profession
Service is the degree of mistrust and suspicion investigators
Alma Mater: University from other fields hold for statistics. I believe this sim-
of Louisiana at Lafayette ply results from a lack of understanding of statistics
and the bad press to which statistics is sometimes
subjected.
Name a statistician you admire and What is one web site/blog you
tell us why. can’t go a day without visiting?
Looking beyond the circle of my doctoral and post- After checking an old email account, I usually take
doctoral advisors but keeping within my areas of a look at http://de.yahoo.com to pick up some news
interest, the name Steffen Lauritzen immediately about Germany. I probably use the site mostly to
comes to my mind. He has done groundbreaking read up on sports news. They also have a lot of live-
work on graphical models, and his book is the stan- tickers for soccer games and, of course, they always
dard reference in this area. Over the past few years, cover my favorite club: FC Bayern Munich.
Research Interests: I have had several opportunities to be at meetings
The focus of my research is on organized or attended by Steffen and, over and over What is something your friends would be
graphical models and algebraic again, I am impressed by his quick thinking and his surprised to learn about you?
statistics. Graphical models are truly constructive comments on the various speak- I am not sure there is anything I could do to surprise
multivariate statistical models ers’ presentations. I also admire Steffen’s supportive my friends. So, I will try to surprise some strangers
in which observed variables nature and positive attitude toward younger fac- by sharing two pieces of trivia:
are constrained to exhibit ulty. He is always encouraging, and I have never I have been playing soccer since I was a little
dependence patterns associated seen him pass on judgmental views. I think I am kid and, naturally, I racked up a number of inju-
with a graph. My work in not alone in having benefited and drawn motiva- ries. Sitting at a desk most of the day doesn’t help
algebraic statistics is primarily tion from his suggestions. with keeping in shape, and so the frequency of
concerned with statistical
injuries has increased over the last 7–8 years. In
inference in models that have What do you love most about fact, I am currently working from home while
parameter spaces with algebraic your profession? recovering from my fourth knee surgery. For sev-
structure. Many graphical Academic statistics is a small field when judged by eral years, someone’s Achilles tendon has been
models are, in fact, of this a headcount, but it is incredibly diverse. Research playing ACL in my left knee, and, since two
algebraic type. may address purely mathematical questions, solve weeks ago, someone’s patella tendon serves as the
algorithmic and computational problems, or be ACL in my right knee.
concerned with applied questions. Each one of these The second piece of trivia involves a prize. Very
three areas is challenging in its own way, and I very few will find it surprising that pronouncing my last
much enjoy the exchange of ideas and problems name is a very painful task in virtually all of this plan-
between the three camps of mathematical, compu- et’s languages. However, some may find it surprising
tational, and applied statistics. that outside the circle of my (great-)grandparents,
parents, and three sisters, I have never met anyone
What do you hate most about with my last name. This makes me wonder whether
your profession? I am the world’s only male heir to this concatenation
I really dislike turf wars between mathematically of mostly consonants. For possible resolution of this
minded and applied statisticians about who does matter, I would like to offer a pint of beer at the next
‘good’ or ‘important’ research. I consider myself very Joint Statistical Meetings to the first few people who
fortunate to be part of the department at Chicago, know/have heard of a person with last name Drton
who is not related to me.
Age: 38
Title: Assistant Professor
Employer: University of
Missouri-Columbia
Alma Mater: University
of Illinois at Chicago
Research Interests:
My main research area is optimal design of
experiments. Currently, I am working on opti-
mal design for generalized linear models, an
underdeveloped area.
Age: 28
Title: Assistant
Professor of Statistics
Employer:
University of
California, Berkeley
Alma Mater:
Indian Statistical
Institute, Calcutta
Name a statistician you admire and What is one web site/blog you
tell us why. can’t go a day without visiting?
Charles Stein. I have very little understanding or Wikipedia. It’s addictive.
intuition about applied statistics, and how can I
idolize someone whose work I cannot understand What is something your friends would be
at a deep level? So that precludes applied statisti- surprised to learn about you?
cians. If I have to choose a theoretical statistician, I have only a few friends, and they know almost
Charles Stein’s name is the first that comes to mind. everything that there is to know about me. So, no
First, because I am more familiar with his work big surprises. Still, here’s a small one: When I was
than that of other towering figures in theoreti- young, I used to spend hours and hours trying to
cal statistics. Second, because his work is extraor- figure out how to spin a cricket ball. Never played
dinarily deep and beautiful. Whether it had any cricket, though.
significant impact on data analysis is a moot point.
MathStatistics
Is Music ;
Is Literature
(Or, Why Are There No Six-Year-Old Novelists?)
Richard D. De Veaux,
Williams College, and
Paul F. Velleman,
Cornell University
A
lmost 30 years ago, something happened Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the ASA
that made introductory statistics harder to that produced the Guidelines for Assessment and
teach. Students didn’t suddenly become less Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) Report—
teachable, nor did professors forget their craft. It was have pushed us all to change our teaching. And a
that we began to switch from teaching statistics as a new generation of texts has appeared following the
mathematics course to teaching the art and craft of advice of these reports, challenging statistics teach-
statistics as its own discipline. When statistics was ers to use this new approach.
viewed as a subspecialty of mathematics, students But why is it more difficult to teach this way?
were taught to manipulate formulas and calculate And why is it so important that we do?
the ‘correct’ answer to rote exercises. Life for the By comparison, let’s look at mathematics. Much
teacher, both as instructor and grader, was easy. of the beauty of mathematics stems from its axiom-
That started changing in the early 1980s. The atic structure and logical development. That same
video series “Against All Odds” appeared, and David structure facilitates—in fact dictates—the order
Moore and George McCabe published Introduction in which the material is taught. It also ensures the
to the Practice of Statistics. Since then, two pioneering course is self-contained, so there are no surprises.
committees—one for the Mathematical Association But, modern statistics courses are not like that, and
of America and the ASA and one for the National that can frustrate students who were expecting a
Platinum
Gold
Silver
Resources
statistics can be taught—or even less plausible, can
Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education be learned—in a single term. Any objective consid-
(GAISE) Report, www.amstat.org/education/gaise eration of the breadth and depth of the concepts
and methods covered shows this to be absurdly
Hayes, Brian. (2006) “Gauss’s Day of Reckoning.” American Scientist, optimistic. Yet, few academic programs require
94(3):200. more than one course, and many of those that
require two are cutting back. We need to argue as a
Velleman, P.F. (2008) “Truth, Damn Truth, and Statistics.” Journal of discipline that an introductory statistics course must
Statistics Education, 16(2): www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v16n2/ cover more than an introduction to inference for
velleman.html. means if it is to teach the reasoning of statistics—
and that teaching that reasoning must be its goal
Velleman, P.F. (2003) “Thinking With Data: Seven Unnatural Acts
(not just teaching definitions and formulas.) But,
and Ten 400-Year-Old Aphorisms.” Keynote address to the Beyond
a more complete course that covers techniques that
the Formula conference, Rochester, New York. require more than rudimentary sophistication, such
Weiss, Cindy. (2006) “New York Philharmonic Selects as inference for regression and multiple regression,
UConn Prof to Revive Concert Series.” http://advance.uconn. is unlikely to have time to teach judgment, plan-
edu/2006/060424/06042412.htm ning, and communication. It will most likely be
pared down to a collection of equations and rules.
As a community, we need to make it clear that
the subject of statistics deserves both more respect
they may study. The reason they are taking statis- and more time, not because it covers so many
tics (or perhaps, the reason it’s required) is that they methods, but because it should teach the founda-
are accumulating the kind of knowledge about the tions of reasoning when we have data. Part of the
real world that will help them write literature and argument might be that, unlike students in subjects
read philosophy, and that kind of knowledge makes that exhibit prodigies, our students must summon
them qualified to make statistical judgments. Of their real-world knowledge to learn to think statisti-
course, by asking students to call upon what they’ve cally. And, that the effort by statistics teachers and
learned in other courses, we are encouraging them students will pay back correspondingly in all our
to solidify their knowledge from those courses. students do. Math is sometimes said to be the lan-
Third, we must actually require students to guage of science (and much social science), but sta-
demonstrate all the steps of a statistical analysis, tistics should teach students the structure for what
from problem formulation to communicating the it communicates.
results to making real-world recommendations on Is the effort to teach the modern course
what they find. Unfortunately, homework and worth it? We believe it is. Rather than a col-
exam problems that carry these requirements are lection of techniques or a ‘cookbook’ of situa-
harder to write and harder to grade. Training teach- tions and formulas, a modern course in statis-
ing assistants to reliably grade these efforts can be tics must teach students to reason about the
problematic. Moreover, many statistics instructors world. Although that makes the course more
are not trained in statistics, and they, too, can find difficult to teach and assess, it will make a dif-
this approach challenging. But, the results of teach- ference in students’ lives and serve them for the
ing a modern course reward both the student and rest of their academic careers and beyond. ■
teacher, in spite of its challenges.
We should also face outward to the academic Editor’s Note: This paper is based on several
community. There is a wide- talks given by the authors at the United States
spread impression Conference on Teaching Statistics (USCOTS).
that introductory
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Illinois
■ Full-time assistant professor, tenure-
track position in the Department of
Preventive Medicine, Northwestern
Vacancy listings may include the institutional name and address or be identified University. Requires a doctoral degree in
by number, as desired.
biostatistics or statistics for methodology
Professional Opportunities Vacancies also will be published on the ASA’s web
research and epidemiologic studies in the
site (www.amstat.org). Vacancy listings will appear on the web site for the entire
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All ads will be published both electronically and in print. communication skills are essential. To
Rates: $320 for nonprofit organizations (with proof of nonprofit status), $475 apply, send CV and references to: Marie
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religion, age, color, national origin, handicap, or sexual orientation. related field required. Background in lon-
Also look for job ads on the ASA web site at www.amstat.org/jobweb.
gitudinal analysis and field epidemiologic
studies highly desirable. Excellent com-
munication and computing skills required.
Level of appointment commensurate with
experience. Letter, curriculum vitae, three
references to Carlos F. Mendes de Leon,
PhD, Rush Institute for Healthy Aging,
Rush University Medical Center, 1645
W. Jackson Blvd., Suite 675, Chicago, IL
60612. Rush University Medical Center
is an EOE.
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North Carolina
■ Bioinformatician for the Section of
Statistical Genetics and Bioinformatics,
Biostatistical Sciences, Division of Public
Health Sciences, Wake Forest University
Health Sciences. Research collabora-
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bioinformatics, and related disciplines.
Provides bioinformatics solutions and
Ohio
■ Associate/full professor, statistics, Miami
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ship/collaboration in the Coordinating
Center for Clinical Trials. Responsibilities
include holding leadership positions in
clinical trials, conducting biostatistical
research (methodological/collaborative),
teaching. Qualifications include earned
doctorate in biostatistics/related field,
commitment to teaching, evidence of
research/recognition in biostatistics/
clinical trials. Contact Barry Davis,
MD, PhD, barry.r.davis@uth.tmc.edu.
UTHSC is an EOE.
continued on page 71
Visit the ASA JobWeb at www. VCU is an urban, research intensive institution with a diverse university community and
commitment to multicultural opportunities. VCU is an equal opportunity/affirmative action
amstat.org/jobweb/index.cfm employer. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.
Interested candidates should send a letter of interest, curriculum vitae along with names, addresses and phone numbers of three references to:
John E. Cornell, Ph.D., Chair, Search Committee
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
7703 Floyd Curl Drive, Mail Code 7933
San Antonio, TX 78229-3900
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
All faculty appointments are designated as security sensitive positions.
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