StatFest 2018

Picture of StatFest participants from 2018 (Amherst College)

StatFest is a one day conference aimed at encouraging undergraduate students from historically underrepresented groups (African American, Hispanic, Native Americans) to consider careers and graduate studies in the statistical sciences. The conference for 2018 took place on Saturday, September 22nd. StatFest is an ongoing initiative of the American Statistical Association (ASA) through its Committee on Minorities in Statistics.

StatFest 2018 was a great success: we thank the many people who made it possible and the wonderful students who participated.

An Amherst College News Story (At StatFest, Diversity is the Greatest Value) summarized the event: https://www.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2018/10-18/at-statfest-diversity-is-the-greatest-value

The introductory session plus keynote sessions (Scarlett Bellamy and Fernando Perez) are available at the following links:

Information about StatFest 2019 will be posted at the ASA Committee on Minorities in Statistics website: http://community.amstat.org/cmis/home

The conference includes:

presentations from established professionals, academic leaders, and current graduate students that will help attendees understand the opportunities and routes for success in the field,
opportunities for networking,
opportunity for attendees to submit and present posters describing their research, and
panel forums that will provide information and tips for a rewarding graduate student experience, achieving success as an academic statistician, opportunities in the private and government arenas, among other topics.

StatFest 2018 was held at Amherst College (Amherst, Massachusetts), one of the premier liberal arts colleges in the nation, enrolling 1,800 talented, energetic and diverse students. Amherst is one of the most diverse liberal arts colleges in the country. Our dedication to the centrality of inclusiveness helps us ensure that the college is a place to which all students feel they belong.

For more information please contact Nicholas Horton, Renee’ Moore (renee.moore@emory.edu) or Jesse Chittams (chittams@nursing.upenn.edu).

We recorded several of the sessions from StatFest and will be making them available after the conference.

Keynote speakers

Scarlett Bellamy, Drexel University

Title: Nudges, grit and grinding: Navigating a career as an academic biostatistician while working to build a diverse profession

[slides] [recording]

Scarlett Bellamy is the Past-President of ENAR (Eastern North American Region) of the International Biometrics Society and Professor of Biostatistics and director of the graduate program at the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health.

Fernando Perez, University of California/Berkeley

Title: From Colombia to Jupyter: an odd path through physics, open source software and data science [slides] [recording]

Fernando Perez created iPython and co-created Project Jupyter. He is a professor of statistics at the University of California/Berkeley and Senior Fellow of the Berkeley Institute for Data Science. Fernando and the Project Jupyter Team were honored with this year’s ACM Software System Award (https://twitter.com/UCBIDS/status/991731806100738048).

Conduct policy

As an activity sponsored by the American Statistical Association (ASA), StatFest is committed to providing an atmosphere that encourages the free expression and exchange of ideas. Consistent with this commitment, it is the policy of the ASA that all participants in ASA activities, including StatFest, will find a welcoming and respectful environment free from unlawful discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. All aspects of StatFest are subject to the ASA’s conduct policy.

Last updated October 3, 2018

authored by Nicholas Horton, Amherst College.

StatFest 2018

Keynote speakers

Links

Conduct policy