Dr. Michelle Shardell (Institute for Genome Science at the University of Maryland Baltimore)
The ASA Biometrics Strategic Initiatives Committee is proud to announce its funding support for a project led by Dr. Michelle Shardell, Professor at the Institute for Genome Science at the University of Maryland Baltimore. Her project, titled “Introducing Biostatistics to Diverse Pathways in Technology Early College (P-TECH) Students Through Microbiome Data Analysis,” will include developing and delivering a module introducing the field of biostatistics to quantitatively talented students enrolled in the P-TECH program at Dunbar High School in Baltimore, Maryland. Students will learn techniques to analyze microbiome data derived from soil samples collected in Dr. Shardell’s prior fieldwork. Dr. Shardell will also administer student and teacher evaluations, and will submit results and data to the Journal of Statistics Education and present results in a National Science Foundation Grant application to expand outreach.
We are excited about Dr. Shardell’s project and look forward to seeing its impact on biostatistics outreach! The ASA Biometrics Strategic Initiatives Committee was led by Dr. Tanya P. Garcia (Chair, Texas A&M University) and Dr. Milan Bimali (Co-Chair, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences).