Stats + Stories

Demographers study the way populations change. The things they might focus on include births and deaths, living conditions, and age distributions. In the United States, population changes are tracked nationally by the Census Bureau. A conversation with the retired chief demographer of the U.S Census Bureau with Howard Hogan is the focus of this episode of Stats+Stories. Hogan is the former chief demographer of the U.S. Census Bureau and studied at Princeton’s Office of Population Research, and its School of Public Affairs. He then spent two years teaching at the University of Dar es Salaam and working on the Tanzanian census. He joined the Census in 1979. He worked on household surveys, business surveys, and the population census. He led the statistical design of the 2000 Census. He served as an expert witness in Utah v Evans, in which the Supreme Court considered the use of imputation in the Census 2000. He served as Associate Director for Demographic Programs and later as Census Bureau’s Chief Demographer. He taught as an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Statistics of George Washington University. He is an Honorary Fellow of the American Statistical Association. He was awarded the 2018 Jeanne E. Griffith Mentoring Award. He retired from federal service in 2018.

Submit your entry into the Stats+Stories 250th episode celebration contest via email at statsandstories@miamioh.edu or on Twitter by following @statsandstories and tweeting at us with a link to your story and what you would do to correct its errors in 50 words or less. Winners will receive a signed copy of John and Rosemary's new book, "Statistics Behind the Headlines", as well as a Stats+Stories branded coffee mug, and more along with a chance to be on the show! Submit your entries by October 31st and we will announce a winner on the first episode of November.

What is the nutritional status of children in your town? How many tourism and hospitality companies are in your community? Answering these questions at a small scale seems like a challenge. However, imagine scaling this to a country, with one hundred and twenty three municipalities, 26 states and a federal district. Answering these questions with survey methods is the focus of this episode of Stats+Stories with guest Pedro and Denise Silva. Pedro Luis do Nascimento Silva - Statistics from the National Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics Association (1988) and Doctor in Statistics - University of Southampton (1996). He is a Researcher at the National School of Statistical Sciences. He has extensive experience in the following areas of Statistics: sampling and research methods, analysis of complex sample data, household sample surveys, variance estimation, calibration estimators, data criticism and imputation, estimation for small domains, sample surveys in the evaluation of public policies, and official statistics. He was president of the International Institute of Statistics (2015-2017). Denise Britz do Nascimento Silva is a retired and voluntary Principal Researcher at the National School of Statistical Sciences (ENCE) of the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE), and Senior Associate Researcher at the Society for the Development of Scientific Research (SCIENCE). PhD. in Statistics (University of Southampton, 1997). I am an elected member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI), an associate editor of the Statistical Journal of the IAOS and the Revista Brasileira de Estatística, and was President (2019-2021) of the International Association of Survey Statisticians (IASS). My main areas of interest are official/public statistics, survey methods, statistical modeling of survey data, small-area estimation, and statistical education.

In the late 1600s, a book was published satirizing politics in Europe. Published two decades after the end of the 30 Years' War, it focuses on the power of the Holy Roman Empire. That book's impact on statistics is the focus of this episode of stats and stories, with guest Wallace Ferguson. Wallace Ferguson has taught mathematics and statistics at Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School, Kent, England since 1994. He writes book reviews for the Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications, which are published in their journal, ‘Mathematics Today’. His interests include statistical etymology and his article ‘Microscopium statisticum and the etymology of statistics’ was published in the February edition of Significance. Ferguson is currently working on a follow on article, ‘Literature, Politics and the Framing of the State, 1300 – 1648’. He was a member of The Royal Statistical Society History of Statistics committee from 2018 until this year.

Measurement accuracy is something all quantitative researchers strive for, as you want to make sure you're measuring what you want to be measuring. When it comes to gathering gender and sex data, though measurements are complicated, beyond simply teasing apart sex and gender, there's also the imperative to ensure the language and measurement tools researchers use are inclusive of all experiences. That's the focus of this episode of stats and stories with guests Dooti Roy and Suzanne Thornton. Dr. Dooti Roy is a people leader, global product owner and a methodology statistician at Boehringer Ingelheim (she didn’t give me where she worked in her bio so she might not want this) who enjoys developing/deploying innovative clinical research and statistical visualization tools with expertise in creating and leading dynamic cross-functional collaborations to efficiently solve complex problems. She is currently focused on research and methodological applications of Bayesian statistics, artificial intelligence and machine learning on clinical efficacy analyses, patient adherence, and dose-finding. She is passionate about promoting diversity and inclusion, mentoring, cross-cultural collaborations, and competent leadership development. She unwinds with painting, reading, traveling and heavy metal. Suzanne Thornton professor of Statistics at Swarthmore College, a liberal arts undergraduate-only institution. As an educator, she strives to teach students to understand statistics as the language of science and prepare them to become stewards of the discipline. In 2020 she chaired an ASA presidential working group on LGBTQ+ representation and inclusion in the discipline and earlier this year, she was appointed to a three year term to serve on the National Advisory Committee for the US Census.

Retirement is a threshold - crossing a finish line of sorts. As a new emeritus professor. this is at the front of my mind. Our guest today knows and has studied, this third age of life; a beginning of all kinds of new activities personal, professional, and more. The third age of life is the focus of this episode of Stats and Short Stories with guest Dawn C. Carr. Dawn C. Carr (@DawnCCarr) is the Director of the Claude Pepper Center and an associate professor at Florida State University in the Department of Sociology. Carr is a thought leader in the field of aging, and regularly presents her research to a range of audiences through keynote speeches, policy-related presentations, and seminars with older adults and practitioners. Carr’s research focuses on understanding the factors that bolster older adults’ ability to remain healthy and active as long as possible. Much of her work is dedicated to exploring the relevance, purpose, and factors related to work engagement after age 50 and volunteer engagement. Her recent work focuses on understanding the complex pathways between health and active engagement during later life, including resilience and the impact of key transitions in health, productivity, and caregiving.

At the COVID pandemic’s seeming height, social media were filled with images and stories of people adopting pets. Individuals who might not have had time for a dog or a cat before lockdown suddenly did. Needing to walk a dog also gave people a reason to leave their homes at regular intervals. For some older adults with dogs, those regular strolls around the neighborhood may have helped keep them from having increased feelings of loneliness. That’s the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Dawn Carr. Dawn C. Carr is the Director of the Claude Pepper Center and an associate professor at Florida State University in the Department of Sociology. Carr is a thought leader in the field of aging, and regularly presents her research to a range of audiences through keynote speeches, policy-related presentations, and seminars with older adults and practitioners. Carr’s research focuses on understanding the factors that bolster older adults’ ability to remain healthy and active as long as possible. Much of her work is dedicated to exploring the relevance, purpose, and factors related to work engagement after age 50 and volunteer engagement. Her recent work focuses on understanding the complex pathways between health and active engagement during later life, including resilience and the impact of key transitions in health, productivity, and caregiving.

Last academic year colleges and universities across the US struggled with whether to mandate COVID vaccinations for their students. While colleges often require vaccines, the political controversy surrounding the COVID shots made adopting a vaccine policy a complicated undertaking. But according to one study, it had a profound impact on the national COVID death toll last fall. That's the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Riley Acton. Riley Acton is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Miami University, as well as a Research Affiliate at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) and the College Crisis Initiative (C2i). She is an applied microeconomist who specializes in labor economics and the economics of education. Her current work examines the causes and consequences of decisions made by higher education institutions, the effect of local labor market shocks on K-12 and college students, and the impact of school finance policies on educational outcomes. How did you get this figure for deaths? (1:35) How did you get into Economics of education? (2:53) How did you come up with the framework of the study (6:48) How do you control in studies like this? (8:36) How has your story been covered? (10:35) Putting out a working paper (15:02) How do calculate a year of life lost? (17:14) What are the costs to mandates? (20:11) Any new questions related to this work? (22:00)

Some important milestones have passed during the pandemic blur of the last few years. The 50th anniversary of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) was one. Created by the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970. NIOSH, one of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was established as a “separate and independent research program to create objective scientific research findings in the field of occupational safety and health.”  Today’s episode of Stats+Stories with guest Dr. Paul Schulte Dr. Paul Schulte was the Director of the Division of Science Integration and Co-Manager of the Nanotechnology Research Center at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He currently is a consultant with Advanced Technologies and Laboratories International, Inc. Dr. Schulte has 47 years of experience in conducting and developing guidance on occupational cancer, nanomaterials, risk communication, workplace well-being, and genetics. He also has examined the convergence of occupational safety and health and green chemistry and sustainability. He is the co-editor of the textbook, Molecular Epidemiology: Principles and Practices. Dr. Schulte has served as guest editor of the Journal of Occupational Medicine and the American Journal of Industrial Medicine and was on the initial editorial board of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.  He is currently on the International Advisory Board of the Annals of Occupational Hygiene. Dr. Schulte has developed various frameworks for addressing the aging workforce, burden of occupational disease and injury, well-being of the workforce, and translation research and synthetic biology and occupational risk.

New episodes of Stats+Stories return next week! The tenure track process at American universities is a grind – one shaped by the old adage to “Publish or perish.” But if a junior faculty member manages to successfully navigate the process – publishing as expected, learning to manage a classroom, participating in service – then they’re rewarded with tenure. Tenure is an almost permanent employment relationship at universities that’s designed to give faculty the freedom – because of their job security to pursue any area of inquiry they feel drawn to. The problem, of course, is that not everyone makes it through that grind. A growing body of research shows that women, though they receive more than 50-percent of all PhDs, are not making it through the tenure track process in the same numbers. That’s the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guests Dr. Michelle Cardel and Leslie McClure. Dr. Michelle Cardel is an obesity and nutrition scientist, registered dietitian, the Director of Global Clinical Research & Nutrition at WW International, Inc. (formerly Weight Watchers) and a faculty member at the University of Florida (UF) College of Medicine, where she is also an Associate Director for the Center for Integrative Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases. Her research is focused on three areas, assessing the effects of psychosocial factors, including low social status and food insecurity, on eating behavior and obesity-related disease, the development and implementation of effective healthy lifestyle interventions with a focus on underserved populations, and improving gender equity within academia. Leslie McClure is Professor & Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University. Dr. McClure does work to try to understand disparities in health, particularly racial and geographic disparities, and the role that the environment plays in them. Her methodological expertise is in the design and analysis of multicenter trials, as well as issues of multiplicity in clinical trials. She is currently the Director of the Coordinating Center for the Diabetes LEAD Network, and the Director of the Data Coordinating Center for the Connecting the Dots: Autism Center of Excellence. In addition to her research, Dr. McClure is passionate about increasing diversity in the mathematical sciences and devotes considerable time to mentoring younger scientists. Dr. McClure also Chaired the ASA’s Task Force on Sexual Harassment and Assault, which led the way in developing policies surrounding sexual misconduct for professional organizations.