Stats + Stories

Jeri M. Mulrow is the Acting Director for the Bureau of Justice Statistics. BJS's mission is to collect, analyze, and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government. BJS is a component of the Office of Justice Programs in the Department of Justice.

Mona Chalabi (@MonaChalabi) is the Data Editor of The Guardian US and a columnist at New York Magazine. As well as co-producing a four-part documentary series about vaginas , Mona has written for TV shows on National Geographic, the BBC and VICE. Mona draws. Her illustrations, which are designed to make numbers more relatable, can be viewed on her Instagram account and were recently commended by the Royal Statistical Society. Before getting into journalism, Mona worked in the nonprofit sector, first at the Bank of England, then Transparency International and the International Organization for Migration.

Mona Chalabi (@MonaChalabi) is the Data Editor of The Guardian US and a columnist at New York Magazine. As well as co-producing a four-part documentary series about vaginas , Mona has written for TV shows on National Geographic, the BBC and VICE. Mona draws. Her illustrations, which are designed to make numbers more relatable, can be viewed on her Instagram account and were recently commended by the Royal Statistical Society. Before getting into journalism, Mona worked in the nonprofit sector, first at the Bank of England, then Transparency International and the International Organization for Migration.

Program note: During this episode, Mona described a recent story she had written about the departure of John Thompson, Director of the Census Bureau and recent guest on S+S (Episode #32). Given the connection between the episodes, we opted to expedite the release of this latest episode. We hope that you will enjoy these conversations.

John H. Thompson is the 24th Census Bureau Director. He will serve in this role until June 30, 2017. The Census Bureau prepares the 2020 Census and over more than 100 other censuses and surveys, which measure America's people, places and economy, and provide the basis for crucial economic indicators such as the unemployment rate.

John H. Thompson is the 24th Census Bureau Director. The Census Bureau prepares the 2020 Census and over more than 100 other censuses and surveys, which measure America's people, places and economy, and provide the basis for crucial economic indicators such as the unemployment rate

Andrew Flowers (@andrewflowers) is a freelance data journalist and a former quantitative editor at FiveThirtyEight.com . He writes about economics, trade, welfare, sports and more.

Andrew Flowers (@andrewflowers) is a freelance data journalist and a former quantitative editor at FiveThirtyEight.com . He writes about economics, trade, welfare, sports and more.

Filippo Menczer is a professor of informatics and computer science at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is an ACM Distinguished Scientist and a Senior Research Fellow of The Kinsey Institute. His research focuses on Web and data science, social network analysis, social computation, Web mining, and modeling of complex information networks. His work on the spread of information and misinformation in social media has been covered in many US and international news sources, including The New York Times , Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR , PBS, CNN, BBC, Economist , Guardian, Atlantic, Reuters, Science , and Nature. His recent work includes Hoaxy , a way to "visualize the spread of claims and fact checking."

David Spiegelhalter is Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk in the Statistical Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication , and President of the Royal Statistical Society . He is passionate about helping the public understand uncertainty and risk . His recent book, Sex by Numbers , describes scientific research that provides a view of the world of sex.

David Spiegelhalter is Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk in the Statistical Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication , and President of the Royal Statistical Society . He is passionate about helping the public understand uncertainty and risk . His recent book, Sex by Numbers , describes scientific research that provides a view of the world of sex.