December 2017 • Issue #486 AMSTATNEWS The Membership Magazine of the American Statistical Association • http://magazine.amstat.org SHARED WISDOM at the Women in Statistics and Data Science Conference ALSO: Master’s and Doctoral Programs in Data Science and Analytics JSM 2018: Contribute to the Program Prepare your students for a data-driven world. Learn more MSS_18_PrintAd.innd 1 5/16/2017 11:12:36 PM AMSTATNEWS DECEMBER 2017 • ISSUE #486 Executive Director Ron Wasserstein: [email protected] Associate Executive Director and Director of Operations features Stephen Porzio: [email protected] 3 President’s Corner Director of Science Policy Steve Pierson: [email protected] 5 Student Applications Wanted for ASA/AAAS Mass Media Fellowship Director of Strategic Initiatives and Outreach Donna LaLonde: [email protected] 5 Applications Sought for ASA Science Policy Fellowships Director of Education 6 2017 NESSIS Features Retrodictive Modeling, Rebecca Nichols: [email protected] Shot Taxonomy, Randomness Managing Editor 7 Master’s and Doctoral Programs in Data Science Megan Murphy: [email protected] and Analytics Production Coordinators/Graphic Designers Sara Davidson: [email protected] Megan Ruyle: [email protected] Publications Coordinator Val Nirala: [email protected] Advertising Manager Claudine Donovan: [email protected] Contributing Staff Members Amanda Conageski • Lara Harmon • Rebecca Nichols Amstat News welcomes news items and letters from readers on matters of interest to the association and the profession. 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Read more in the Amstat News December issue online at http:// Like us on Facebook magazine.amstat.org. www.facebook.com/AmstatNews Follow us on Instagram www.instagram.com/AmstatNews president's corner Goofs, Gratitude, Headway, and HEROES s a native New Yorker, I sometimes think of Barry D. Nussbaum Ed Koch, the former three-term mayor who would stand at street corners and ask in his Aclassic Bronx accent, “How’m I doin’?” I wonder if any of today’s politicians would be so bold as to ask that. But here, in my last President’s Corner, I want to answer how we are doing. I suggested three initiatives. The communica- tions initiative centered on my oft-repeated mantra, “It’s not what we said, it’s not what they heard, it’s what they say they heard.” We teamed up with the Stats + Stories group at Miami University. Started in 2013, this is a collaboration between statisticians and journalists producing podcasts that give the sta- tistics behind the stories and the stories behind the statistics. With the new ASA assistance, a quality solution for having guests participate remotely via Skype now exists. Further, the programming has been augmented with five-minute episodes called Stats + [short] Stories. This partnership will con- tinue affording ASA members the opportunity to David Morganstein engages the fastest-growing seg- both be guests and suggest topics of interest. ment of the statistics community: the Asian statistician. Our youth initiative has the goal of presenting interesting subjects using statistics to middle-school for statistics and data science. We anticipate the “open youngsters. The aim is to let these youngsters have house” will be announced in early spring 2018. fun while learning about statistics. This is the ASA’s As you can see, thanks to ASA Director of counterpart to the Museum of Mathematics, but Strategic Initiatives and Outreach Donna LaLonde’s will be a virtual space called the House of Statistics. lead, both the communications initiative and the Game-based learning, videos, and educational car- youth initiative are making great progress. toons developed by our collaborators at Laber Labs The third initiative involves engaging the fast- will be available in the House of Statistics. There est-growing segment of the statistics community: will be opportunities for learners of all ages to the Asian statistician. We launched a task force of engage in data challenges. members of the International Chinese Statistical In addition to housing valuable educational Association, International Indian Statistical resources and assisting career exploration, the Association, and Korean International Statistical House of Statistics will be a resource for ASA mem- Society. This task force, under the excellent leader- bers engaging in outreach. ship of David Morganstein, examined some of the The House of Statistics will also host virtual ses- specific needs of this group. Among the concrete sions with ASA members as they share their passion results was a career session at JSM devoted solely december 2017 amstat news 3 to young Asian statisticians. While we worried about The professional staff of the ASA were a joy to the attendance on early Sunday morning of JSM, it work with. They do a heck of a lot more than just was a true joy that we had to contact the hotel staff to “minding the store.” They run meetings, coordinate get extra chairs for the standing-room only attendees. chapters, handle finances, distribute communica- I am most concerned that these initiatives not tions and publications, maintain an active policy be called Barry’s initiatives, but rather regarded as voice, support continuing education, develop inno- important ASA programs. So, let’s continue with vative programs, and maintain an online presence. these efforts. They do all this collaboratively, with professional- ism and enthusiasm. My sincere thanks go to Ron Goofs Wasserstein and his entire staff. Somehow, they I have enjoyed writing my musings each month always were there for me and never complained in this column. Naturally, I have wondered who when I bothered them, which I am sure occurred at reads it.