The Section on Statistics and Data Science Education is actively engaged in a number of member-led initiatives. Here is some information about them.
Mentoring Program
Founded in 2016, our section's Mentoring Program provides career advice and mentoring to help statisticians with a focus on teaching and education achieve their professional goals. The program connects early career statistics educators with experienced mentors. For details, see the The Mentoring Program Website.
The Mentoring Program is excited to invite interested mentees and mentors to apply for the upcoming academic year (August 1, 2022 to June 1, 2023). Fill out the application form if you wish to join the program or if you are already in the program and would like to continue. Applications received by apply before July 15, 2022 will be given priority in matching, but applications will be accepted throughout the summer. Every effort will be made to match those who have applied by July 15th. Membership in the ASA Section on Statistics and Data Science Education is required.
2022-2023 committee:
- Allison Theobold (Cal Poly), Chair 2023
- Ella Burnham (Gustavus Adolphus College)
- Ciaran Evans (Wake Forest University)
- Jackie Herman (Northern Kentucky University)
- Jingwei Wu (Temple University)
- Andrew Zieffler (University of Minnesota)
Fellowship Program for High School and Two-year College Teachers
This Fellowship Program is designed for individuals who want to make an impact beyond their classroom setting. Each year, the selection committee selects at most one high school teacher and at most one two-year college teacher for a one-year fellowship beginning in August.
Detailed information about the 2022-23 application process can be found at: fellowship information, application form, recommendation form. The deadline for applying is June 15, 2022.
2021 committee: Michael Posner, Jo Hardin, Rebecca Nugent, Amy Hogan, Kathy Kubo, and Christine Franklin
2020: no recipient due to pandemic
2019 recipients: Congratulations to Kathy Kubo (Department of Mathematics, College of the Canyons) and Amy Hogan (Mathematics Department at the Brooklyn Technical High School). See their bios.
Fellows Committee
Our section Fellows Committee exists to help ensure that section members who are worthy for induction as ASA Fellows are not overlooked. Many thanks to Nick Horton for leading the Section’s nomination efforts in 2018. For next year, we seek the names of potential fellow candidates (along with suggestions of possible nominators) to help guide successful nominations. Early suggestions are most helpful, as it takes considerable time to prepare a compelling application.
2021 Fellows committee:
- Michael Posner (committee Chair)
- Jo Hardin
- Mine Centinkaya-Rundel
Preparing To Teach
August 6th, 2022 before JSM: This is a one-day workshop to prepare current graduate students for a future role as faculty responsible for teaching statistics and data science to undergraduate students across a variety of disciplines. We envision workshop participants become capable of developing innovative and pedagogically-sound learning experiences for their students inside and outside the classroom and using formative and summative assessment to guide their instructional practice.
The ultimate objective of this workshop is to increase the proportion of successful instructors who have the skills, capacity, and inclination to take on the challenges of complex data-oriented teaching in twenty-first century. The workshop also aims to promote interaction, networking, and community building among recent and soon to be PhDs in statistics, data science, and relevant fields who are interested in academic and teaching focused careers and to provide them with valuable insights from leaders in the field. Topics include teaching introductory statistics; teaching data science; teaching-focused career opportunities; opportunities for grants; sharing resources and staying connected. There will be opportunities for interaction and hands-on experience with active learning and computing technologies.
For more information on the workshop and to apply for participation in 2023, see preparingtoteach.org. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until capacity is reached, so check this page regularly or look out of an email announcement if you are an ASA Stat. Ed. member.
Member projects funded by the Statistics and Data Science Education Section
Each year the Statistics and Data Science Education Section funds a number of projects led by the Section members. The funding awards for 2019 are listed below. If you have a project that you would like to request funding for, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the Executive Committee members.
Statistics and Data Science Conference - Teaching Data Science Workshop for Local High-School Teachers
Award: $1000
This year, SDSS features a Teaching Data Science Workshop for local high-school teachers, taught by Shannon Ellis of UC San Diego. The goal of this workshop is for the teachers to leave with data science skills and applicable examples that can be used in their classrooms. Awarded funds will be used towards costs associated with this session. Find out more about SDSS 2019 here.
Statistical Reasoning, Thinking, and Literacy (SRTL-11) Conference
Award: $750
The Eleventh International Research Forum on Statistical Reasoning, Thinking, and Literacy (SRTL-11) will take place July 14 – July 20 2019 hosted by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The theme of this year’s Forum is “new ways of interacting with data, context and chance in statistical modelling processes,” The Forum will build on and expand the work discussed at previous SRTL gatherings. The Section has traditionally provided support for this conference, and this year awarded funds will be used to vocer registration costs of up to two graduate students or junior scholars to attend this research forum. Find out more about SRTL-11 here.
StatFest and Diversity Workshop and Mentoring Program (DWMP)
Award: $500 for each program, for a total of $1,000
StatFest is a one-day conference for primarily undergraduate students and is typically held in the early fall (September or October) at different locations across the US. The purpose of this conference is to expose undergraduates and younger students who may know little about statistics to the breadth of the profession and what graduate study in the discipline entails. The JSM DWMP brings together approximately 100 minority statisticians (graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, early career professionals and senior-level statisticians from academia, government, and the private sector) in a structured 4-day program of career skills development, one-on-one mentoring and networking. Funds will be used towards student travel grants and other program expenses as well as amplify the impact of the programs. Read about StaFest 2018 here and find out more about DWMP here.
DataFest - New sites
Award: $150 each for five new sites, for a total of $750
The ASA DataFest is a celebration of data in which teams of undergraduates work around the clock to find and share meaning in a large, rich, and complex data set. DataFest has been growing and spreading to new sites each year, and the funds from this award will be used as seed funding for new sites. Find out more about DataFest here.