Stats + Stories

Rick Ludwin was hired by NBC Entertainment in 1979 and made director of variety shows there in 1980. He then became vice president for specials and variety programs in 1983; senior VP for specials, variety programs and late-night in 1989; and executive VP for NBC’s late-night and prime time series in 2005. In its 57 years, The Tonight Show has had five permanent hosts, and Rick has been the boss of three of them. His late-night division at NBC developed the hit comedy Seinfeld. Rick, a 1970 Miami University grad, joined the Stats+Stories regulars to discuss the use and impact of ratings on television programming

Jim Oris is Associate Provost for Research, Dean of the Graduate School, and University Distinguished Professor of Biology at Miami University (Ohio). Jim has spent the last 36 years exploring the effects of fossil fuels and their combustion products in freshwater and marine ecosystems. He joined the Stats + Stories regulars to discuss Earth Day and environmental issues related to oil spills and climate change

Paul Scanlon is a survey methodologist and research social scientist in the Questionnaire Design Research Laboratory at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. His research focuses on attitudes towards privacy and confidentiality in federal surveys and on how questionnaire evaluation methods can be used to validate international health surveys.

Karen Kafadar, Rudy Professor of Statistics and Physics at Indiana University, joined the Stats+Stories regulars to discuss forensic science, the evidence used help solve crimes. She was a member of a National Research Council (NRC) committee that produced the report Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward, and she has written on Statistical Issues in Assessing Forensic Evidence.

Tommy Wright, statistician in the US Census Center for Statistical Research and Methodology, joined the Stats+Stories regulars to discuss what the US Census Bureau does and why it is important. (The Census data visualization library is a treat and should be explored by anyone with an interest in viewing characteristics of the US.)

Jim Albert, co-author of Curveball: Baseball, Statistics and the Role of Chance in the Game , editor of the Journal of Quantitative Analysis and Sports , and professor of statistics at Bowling Green State University will join the Stats and Stories regulars to discuss why statistics and baseball have been linked for decades and how this connection has strengthened with the growing presence of sabermetrics in player and team management.