Death happens in medical settings for all kinds of reasons. However, when a death is unexpected, it can leave loved ones grieving and investigators wondering whether it was a case of medical misconduct, or medical murder. When investigators decide to bring a case to trial, they often rely on statistics to make their argument. The Royal Statistical Society released a report this year about such cases, which is the focus of this episode of stats and stories with guest William C. Thompson. 

William C. Thompson is Professor Emeritus of Criminology, Law, and Society; Psychology and Social Behavior at the UCI School of Social Ecology interested in human factors associated with forensic science evidence, including contextual and cognitive bias in forensic analysis and the communication of scientific findings to lawyers and juries. He has written about the strengths and limitations of various types of forensic science evidence, particularly DNA evidence, and about the ability of lay juries to evaluate evidence.

Investigating Medical Murders | Stats + Stories Episode 281

Statistics need Stories to give them meaning. Stories need Statistics to give them credibility. Every Thursday John Bailer & Rosemary Pennington get together with a new, interesting guest to bring you the Statistics behind the Stories and the Stories behind the Statistics.

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More than 27 million individuals are the victims of human trafficking globally that’s according to the US State Department. The 2022 United Nations report on global trafficking suggests that 39 percent of trafficking is associated with sexual exploitation, while also noting that’s likely an underestimate. An initiative at the University of Alabama is working to develop methods for finding evidence of trafficking online, that’s the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Nickolas Freeman.

Freeman, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Operations Management in the  Department of Information Systems, Statistics, and Management Science. Dr. Freeman is also an Associate Editor for INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (IJAA). He is an active member of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS) and earned their Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) certification in 2014. He is also a member of the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS). Dr. Freeman is an active researcher with interests that include healthcare operations management, supply chain risk management, and applied analytics. He has several publications in journals including Manufacturing & Service Operations Management (MSOM), Production & Operations Management (POMS), Omega, the European Journal of Operational Research (EJOR), and INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (formerly Interfaces), and IISE Transactions (formerly IIE Transactions).

Statistical Anti-Trafficking Efforts | Stats + Stories Episode 328

Journalists are often tasked with making complicated information accessible to a wide audience. Given mere minutes or inches to communicate information that might have taken a researcher pages to explain. Financial data can be particularly tricky to translate as it can require not only a comfort level with numbers but also some understanding of financial markets or economic principles. Reporting on financial information is the focus of this episode of Stats+Stories with guest Alan Smith. 

Alan Smith (@theboysmithy) leads the Finanical Times' newsroom team of data reporters and visual journalists. A data visualisation specialist, his TEDx talk Why You Should Love Statistics was featured on TED.com in 2017. Alan is the author of How Charts Work, a handbook on designing with data using the Finanical Times' principles. He is also Honorary Professor of Practice at UCL's Social Data Institute. Before he joined the Finanical Times', he was head of digital content at the UK Office for National Statistics where he was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to official statistics.

Start With the Charts | Stats + Stories Episode 327

How do you learn about what’s going on in the world? Did a news headline grab your attention? Did a news story report on recent research? What do you need to know to be a critical consumer of the news you read? If you are looking to start developing your data self-defense and critical news consumption skills, this book is for you! It reflects a long-term collaboration between a statistician and a journalist to shed light on the statistics behind the stories and the stories behind the statistics. The only prerequisite for enjoying this book is an interest in developing the skills and insights for better understanding news stories that incorporate quantitative information.

Statistics Behind the Headlines: Prediction Population Growth | Stats + Stories Episode 326

As you reach the end of a long day with an excess of stress how do you recharge? Have you found that a long stroll in the sun or through the woods can provide this renewal? Walking in nature is the focus of this episode of Stats+Stories with guest Dr. Altea Lorenzo-Arribas.



Dr. Altea Lorenzo-Arribas is a socio-economic statistician at Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS) working in collaboration with researchers at the Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research Institutions. She is an elected council member of the Royal Statistical Society and secretary of the History of Statistics Section, as well as a member of the Women Committee of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, and the Spanish Biostatistics Network (Biostatnet). She is passionate about uncovering the hidden stories of women in the history of statistics, and firmly believes in the need for a more equal, diverse and inclusive discipline.

Step Out in the Sunshine | Stats + Short Stories Episode 325

Would you be surprised if a wombat won a statistical achievement award? well our guest Noel Cressie is here to talk about the WOllongong Methodology for Bayesian Assimilation of Trace-gases and how it can impact the environmental landscape. 

Noel Cressie is Distinguished Professor at the University of Wollongong, Australia, and Director of its Centre for Environmental Informatics, which is a vibrant interdisciplinary group doing research in spatio-temporal statistics, satellite remote sensing, and broader fields of environmental science; he is also Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri and Affiliate at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the USA. Noel grew up in Western Australia, received a PhD from Princeton University, and shared a career between the US and Australia. He is author and co-author of four books, three of them on spatial and spatio-temporal statistics, and of more than 300 peer-reviewed publications. His recent research involves hunting for atmospheric-carbon-dioxide sources around the world and focusing on Antarctica’s environmental future. He has won a number of awards, including the Fisher Award and Lectureship from the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS), the Pitman Medal from the Statistical Society of Australia, the Barnett Award from the Royal Statistical Society, and the Matheron Award and Lecture from the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences. Noel is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, of the Royal Society of New South Wales, and of a number of other learned societies.

Investigating Medical Murders | Stats + Stories Episode 281

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