Stats + Stories

Stats + Stories 017: A New Equation for Modern Journalism

With Special Guest: Trevor Butterworth

Trevor Butterworth is Director of Sense About Science USA, which advocates for evidence and transparency in science and technology in the public interest. He is also editor of STATS.org, a collaboration between the American Statistical Association and Sense About Science USA that promotes statistical literacy in the news media. He has been a journalist in the US for over 15 years, writing about data and statistics and how they are interpreted in our so-called "knowledge economy," especially in relation to risk and regulation. He’s written for the New Yorker online, Harvard Business Review, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.

Stats + Stories 016: Embracing a quantitative, quantified society: narrative + statistics = data journalism

With Special Guest: Trevor Butterworth

Trevor Butterworth is Director of Sense About Science USA, which advocates for evidence and transparency in science and technology in the public interest. He is also editor of STATS.org, a collaboration between the American Statistical Association and Sense About Science USA that promotes statistical literacy in the news media. He has been a journalist in the US for over 15 years, writing about data and statistics and how they are interpreted in our so-called "knowledge economy," especially in relation to risk and regulation. He’s written for the New Yorker online, Harvard Business Review, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.

Stats + Stories 015: Screening and Intervention for Substance Abuse

With Special Guest: Nicholas Horton

Nicholas Horton is a Professor of Statistics at Amherst College. His methodologic research interests are in longitudinal regression models and missing data methods. His collaborative statistical work focuses on psychiatric epidemiology and substance abuse research. Nick serves as an associate editor for CHANCE and The American Statistician.

Our topic today is alcohol abuse among college students - a major public health concern worldwide. To prepare us for our discussion today…Stats and Stories reporter Emily Hanhart talked with two researchers who have studied alcohol abuse among college students.

Stats + Stories 014: Personalizing the world

With Special Guest: Paul Hunter

Paul Hunter is managing director of Customer Knowledge at dunnhumby . Customer Knowledge is understanding what customers feel, think and do to empower dunnhumby’s clients strategies. dunnhumby works with the world’s largest retailers and brands. Paul has over 25 years in leveraging data and technology to improve marketing decisions.

Stats + Stories 013: Reading, Writing and Statistics? - data analysis and statistical literacy for all.

With Special Guest: Christine Franklin

Christine Franklin, Lothar Tresp Honoratus Honors Professor and Undergraduate Coordinator in Statistics at the University of Georgia, joined the Stats+Stories regulars to talk about statistics concepts that seem especially important for being a numerate citizen. She was the lead writer for the American Statistical Association (ASA) Pre-K-12 GAISE Framework that served as the basis for the statistics strand in the new national Common Core State Standards for K-12 mathematics.

Stats + Stories 012: Numbers as plot elements in financial reporting

With Special Guest: Alex Blumberg

Alex Blumberg is a radio and podcast producer who has launched the podcast 'Startup' - a "series about what happens when someone who knows nothing about business starts one." He had a long a celebrated public radio career at planet money and, while there, produced the award winning episode 'Giant Pool of Money' about the housing crises and Wall Street reaction in the late 2000s. He joined the Stats+Stories regulars to talk about reporting financial stories and other stories with strong numeric foundations.

Stats + Stories 011: ESP - Evaluating Statistics for Psychic Phenomena

With Special Guest: Jessica Utts

Jessica Utts, professor and chair of the Department of Statistics at the University of California, Irvine, and the incoming 2016 President of the American Statistical Association, joined Stats and Stories to discuss research on the possible existence of psychic abilities. She has been working with researchers who study psychic abilities for several decades, wrote a report for Congress evaluating the US government's work on the topic, and has discussed the work on numerous television programs including Larry King Live and CNN News.

Stats + Stories 010: Workplace Safety

With Special Guest: Chris Whittaker Sofge

Chris Whittaker Sofge is a toxicologist who leads a team that conducts quantitative risk assessment for hazards in the workplace. She is the Chief of the Risk Evaluation Branch in the Education and Information Division at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (insert link http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ ). Her group conducts quantitative risk assessment for hazards in the workplace. To learn more about NIOSH work, check out worker safety and health research data from A (Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance) to (almost) Z (Young Worker Safety and Health) (insert link http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/data/ ).

Stats + Stories 009: Medicine is getting personal

With Special Guest: Bonnie LaFleur

Bonnie LaFleur has over fifteen years of experience in statistical and cancer research, and in teaching both physicians and degree seeking statistics/biostatistics students. She is currently a senior manager of biostatistics and data management at Ventana Medical Systems, Inc , which is the tissue diagnostic arm of Roche, Inc. Her primary research interests are in the interface between biology and quantitative methods, specifically the application of statistical methods to cancer biology and novel biologic technologies. Her current work focuses on statistical methodologies used in biomarker development and verification of tissue biomarkers used as companion diagnostics for cancer therapy.

Stats + Stories Episode 8: How do I know this medicine works?

With Special Guest: Marie Davidian

Marie Davidian, William Neal Reynolds professor of statistics from North Carolina State University and past president of the American Statistical Association joined the Stats+Stories regulars to discuss studies that underlie drug development. Marie has broad interest and expertise involving the development and application of statistical methods to challenges in health science research.