Dear Colleagues,
ASA SLDS section is pleased to announce its 2026 kick-off webinar on Jan 28, featured by Dr. Glen Wright Colopy from Polaris Data Labs. Hope to see you there!
Title: The AI Train Has Not Left the Station. But You Do Need to Step on Board
Speakers: Dr. Glen Wright Colopy, Polaris Data Labs
Date and Time: Jan 28, 2026, 2:00 to 3:30 pm Eastern Time
Registration Link: ASA SLDS Webinar Registration Link [eventbrite.com]
Abstract: At this point, has anyone in the ASA not heard of ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI tools? They are everywhere in the news, yet many statisticians still feel like they missed the train. We have even heard from ASA leaders who have never logged into one of these tools to try it firsthand. This webinar is designed to get you off the couch and comfortable trying AI tools in a low-pressure, practical way. If you are completely new to AI tools, or if you want to brush up on some fundamentals, this is the webinar for you.
We will focus on the simple math of how AI tools can save statisticians and data scientists time, without changing their role or standards. The session will cover straightforward, non-technical ways to get real value from AI for both repetitive work and more open-ended, novel tasks. Of course, we'll also review the “AI blooper reel,” showing where these tools fail, so you get an intuition for when these tools are useful and when they should not be trusted.
This webinar is part of a broader set of conversations sponsored by the ASA Section on Data Science and Statistical Learning around AI and data science.
Presenter: Glen Wright Colopy is the Head of Data Science & Statistics at Polaris Data Labs, where he helps biotech companies take their first steps into data science & AI. Glen's day-to-day work is as a hands-on fullstack data science contributor. His focus lies in statistical machine learning, with a particular interest in healthcare and life sciences. Glen holds a Doctorate in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford. His work includes two patents in vital sign monitoring and over 16 publications, most of which are centered around medical machine learning. A long time contributor to the ASA's Statistical Learning & Data Science Section, Glen has been involved since 2015, initially serving as SLDS webmaster before taking on the role of Program Chair. He also hosts the Data & Science podcast, sponsored by SLDS, and serves as a section editor for the Journal of Data Science. His dedication and contributions to the field were recognized with the SLDS 2023 Outstanding Service Award.
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Boxiang Wang
Associate Professor of Statistics
Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science
University of Iowa
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Boxiang Wang
Assistant Professor
University of Iowa
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