Stats + Stories

Amalia Bastos is a biologist and photographer who is currently a Ph.D candidate at The University of Auckland. She is part of the Animal Minds lab and work with three different species: dogs, kea, and New Caledonian crows. Her main interest is on how evolutionary pressures have shaped the minds of different species. Her PhD thesis focuses on the signature-testing approach, which aims to identify which cognitive processes animals use to understand their environment.

Roland Geyer is Professor at UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. Prior to joining the Bren School he held research positions in Germany, France, and the UK. Since 2000 he has worked with a wide range of governmental organization, trade associations, and companies on environmental sustainability issues. Roland has won multiple awards for his work, such as the International Statistic of the Year, and been featured widely in the media, like CBS 60 Minutes, CBS Sunday Morning, and PBS News Hour. He has a graduate degree in physics and a PhD in engineering. Learn more about Roland and his work on www.rolandgeyer.com.

Dan Cooley is a Professor or Statistics at Colorado State University and is a past member and chair of the ASA’s Advisory Committee on Climate Change Policy.  Dan’s research is primarily focuses on developing statistical methods for the study of extreme values and is largely motivated by problems in atmospheric science. Dr. Michael F. Wehner is a senior staff scientist in the Computational Research Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Dr. Wehner’s current research concerns the behavior of extreme weather events in a changing climate, especially heat waves, intense precipitation, drought and tropical cyclones.

Bekah McBride is a science writer and communications specialist who has worked with both companies and universities to turn data and research into applicable and actionable messages that inspire change. She holds a B.S. in Life Science Communication with an emphasis in Business from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a M.A. in Journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her work has been published on DataJournalism.com and in Significance.

John Pullinger is the current president of International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS) and finished his five-year term as United Kingdom National Statistician, Head of the Government Statistical Service (GSS) and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority in June 2019. There, his role was to safeguard the production and publication of high quality official statistics by all departments, agencies and institutions in the UK. On appointment he described his role as to, “mobilize the power of data to help Britain make better decisions.” He also has represented the UK internationally in EU, UN, OECD and other forums. He was both Chair and Vice-Chair of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC).

Amanda Makulec is the Senior Data Visualization Lead at Excella and holds a Masters of Public Health from the Boston University School of Public Health. She worked with data in global health programs for eight years before joining Excella, where she leads teams and develops user-centered data visualization products for federal, non-profit, and private sector clients. Amanda volunteers as the Operations Director for the Data Visualization Society and is a co-organizer for Data Visualization DC. Find her on Twitter at @abmakulec

Gail Burrill is currently an Academic Specialist in the Program for Mathematics Education at Michigan State University. She was a secondary teacher and department chair in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin for over 28 years. She is the Immediate Past President of the International Association for Statistical Education, served as President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and as Director of the Mathematical Sciences Education Board. Burrill co-chaired the College Board Commission on the Calculus Framework and is currently chair of the College Board’s Advanced Placement Calculus Development Committee.

Vicki Hertzberg is a Professor at Emory University in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, where she has founded and directs the Center for Data Science. Her research focuses on, “developing and applying statistical methods for the analysis of network data as well as microbiome data.” Specific topics include infectious diseases on networks, dynamic networks and microbiome of the airplane cabin.

David B. Allison is the current dean, distinguished professor, and provost professor at the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington. Prior to Indiana University, Allison was a distinguished professor, Quetelet Endowed Professor, and director of the NIH-funded Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Allison has published more than 500 scientific papers with research interests including obesity and nutrition, quantitative genetics, clinical trials, statistical and research methodology, and research rigor and integrity.

Hansi Lo Wang is a national correspondent for NPR based in New York City. He reports on the people, power and money behind the 2020 census. Wang received the American Statistical Association's Excellence in Statistical Reporting Award for covering the Census Bureau and the Trump administration's push for a citizenship question. Check out his work on NPR and follow him on Twitter.