September

September

  
Chicago Chapter of the American Statistical Association Newsletter, September 2014
In This Issue
September Luncheon
Statistician of the Year Dinner
Statistics Education in Kindergarten?
The ASA Return to Boston
Can you believe summer is already coming to a close? Hopefully you've had some time to recharge your batteries, because we've got another busy and exciting year planned for the CCASA!
Continue reading for more about Tim Krick's luncheon topic on purchase timing at Orbitz, and Andrew Gelman's SOY award dinner talk about being comfortable with variation and uncertainty in statistics.
We've also included links to a few interesting articles knowing that, for some of you, a short little Parameter won't satisfy your thirst for statistics news. Enjoy the issue and the upcoming events this fall!
First Luncheon of the Year
Next Tuesday
September 16, 2014
 
12 - 1:30 PM
Statistical Analysis of Online Travel: Purchase Timing & Other Applications
Tim Krick
Orbitz Worldwide
 
 East Bank Club

500 N. Kingsbury
Chicago, IL 60610

 

Sponsored by the Chicago Chapter of the American Statistical Association

http://www.chicagoasa.org/

Click Here to Register

 

Abstract: 

In the Chicago area, statisticians have found a home for a number of years in the fields of financial services, market research, media, health care, and academia. Until fairly recently, "online travel" in general (or Orbitz in particular) wasn't even a blip on the Chicago area statistical radar. This talk will provide an insider view of what has happened in the last 5 years to take Orbitz from 1 to 20+ people using key concepts from the field of statistics on a daily basis.

A broad survey of examples will be provided to illustrate how statistical analysis and related techniques (including operations research and machine learning) are influencing Web design, eMarketing, customer interactions, supplier interactions, pricing and promotions, and loyalty programs at Orbitz Worldwide. The example of purchase timing analysis will be explored in more detail. In particular, the application of decision tree techniques to purchase timing analysis will be discussed, along with the pros and cons of different techniques (CART vs CHAID) and some related words of caution for both purchase timing analysis and predictive analytics.
 

Bio:
Tim Krick is a Senior Director of Advanced Analytics at the online travel agency Orbitz Worldwide, where he leads customer analytics initiatives for Orbitz and several affiliated brands around the world (including Cheaptickets, eBookers, and HotelClub). Tim has over 20 years of experience in data analytics and statistical analysis; he worked at Nielsen and Deloitte before joining Orbitz 5 years ago. His educational background includes an undergraduate degree in Mathematical Methods from Northwestern and a masters degree in Computer Science (focused on artificial intelligence and data mining) from DePaul.

Tim often observes that while the names we give to our work have changed a bit over the years (e.g., statistics, data mining, advanced analytics, data analytics, predictive analytics, machine learning, Big Data), core ideas and approaches from the field of Statistics continue to be foundational. 

Mark Your Calendars:
Statistician of the Year Dinner
The CCASA is thrilled to announce that Andrew Gelman will be accepting his 2014 SOY award at this year's:

Statistician of the Year Dinner 
October 22nd - 6pm
East Bank Club 

Andrew Gelman received his Ph.D. in statistics in 1990.  His books include Bayesian Data Analysis; Teaching Statistics: A Bag of Tricks; A Quantitative Tour of the Social Sciences; and Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State: Why Americans Vote the Way They Do. He was kind enough to send us a preview of his talk at the dinner:

Anti-Abortion Democrats, Jimmy Carter Republicans, and the Missing Leap Day Babies:  Living With Uncertainty, But Still Learning

 

To learn about the human world, we should accept uncertainty and embrace variation.  I will illustrate with various examples from recent collaborative research and then discuss more generally how statistical methods can help or hinder the scientific process.  I worry that statistics is often sold to the world as a way of laundering uncertainty, with users combining noisy and biased data to create a false sense of knowledge.

 

Mark your calendars now so you don't miss out on what is sure to be a memorable CCASA event!

Should Statistics Education 
Begin in Kindergarten?
We're all well aware that math education in the United States could use a few improvements. While many are calling for an overhaul, one author makes the case for using the ASA framework to teach statistical concepts much earlier than they are now (if they're taught at all) - in kindergarten.
Statisticians Return to Boston, Where the ASA First Took Shape
(from left) Edward Deming, Benjamin Tepping, and J. Stuart Hunter at the Deming Library dedication in 1991.
In 1839, five men convened in Boston to draft a constitution for the group that was to become the American Statistical Association, and in Augustthousands of statisticians descended upon the city forthe annual meeting of the ASA, and to celebrate 175 years of "collecting, preserving and diffusing statistical information in the different departments of human knowledge."
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