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Message
from the President
By Debra Stiver, President
Summer
greetings to all of you! The Nevada Chapter has been very
busy during the spring months putting on the annual Career Day functions.
This April, two career days were given, one week apart, in the Las
Vegas area and the Reno area. Both were well attended and
introduced several speakers from a wide variety of occupations,
agencies, and businesses. We hosted attendees ranging
from an entire high school statistics and probability class to professionals
working in their fields. And, we want to welcome the new Nevada
Chapter members who signed up as a result of attending the functions.
Our Chapter hopes to build on these successes in the future.
Thanks to all the members who worked hard to make the functions
a grand success. This newsletter and our website contain more
detailed articles and pictures for your information.
Kudos to our Nevada Chapter for securing a Strategic Initiatives
Grant from the national ASA organization. The chapter was
awarded a $5,000 grant to develop a mentoring program in the state
of Nevada. The program was the brainchild of one of our members
and past chapter vice president, Dr. Chad Cross of UNLV. Chad wrote
the following abstract that summarizes what the Nevada Chapter will
be working on in the coming months.
“The program will be designed to establish a professional mentoring
relationship between statistics students and successful professional
statisticians, or those professionals in a quantitative field with
a major focus and/or interest in statistical science. We believe
the mentoring relationship will offer an opportunity for professionals
and educators to become more actively involved in facilitating educational
opportunities for tomorrow’s professionals. We also believe
the program will increase awareness of the American Statistical
Association, and will encourage membership and participation in
our relatively young Nevada Chapter which spans two large metropolitan
areas at different ends of the state with several smaller cities
in between.”
Look for information on this program and don’t be surprised
if you are asked to participate as a mentor yourself!
Summer brings the Joint Statistical Meetings, to be held this August
in Minneapolis Minnesota. Hokwon Cho, Nevada Chapter Representative,
and I will be attending the meetings to represent the Nevada Chapter.
We hope to participate in activities that will benefit the
workings and growth of our chapter.
In October, the Chapter will be holding its annual meeting in Reno,
Nevada. During the annual meeting the Chapter hosts speakers, holds
a mixer and luncheon or dinner, and discusses plans for the coming
year. Nominations for officer and chapter elections will precede
the meeting, and your new officers will be announced during the
meeting. I encourage you to consider running for an office
and participating in chapter activities as a committee member or
interested member.
And finally …… Welcome to our newest and littlest statistician,
Sara Elizabeth Wilson. Sara is the daughter of our Chapter
Secretary, Dorothy Wilson and her husband, Clint. She made
her entrance into the world only one week after the Southern Nevada
Career Day function. Congratulations to her proud parents.
With Best Regards,
Deb Stiver
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Call
for Nominations
By Sandra Catlin, Past-President
and Chair, Nominating Committee
We will have three officer vacancies at the end of 2005. The
positions are President, Northern Vice-President, and Secretary.
Please consider nominating yourself or one of the other outstanding
candidates available from our membership. You may submit nominations
to me by e-mail at
catlins@unlv.nevada.edu, regular mail at 4505 Maryland Parkway,
Box 454020, Las Vegas, NV 89154, or by phone at (702) 895-0381.
Nominations must be received on or before Friday, September 23,
2005. The three officer descriptions follow below. All officers
serve as members of the NV-ASA Executive Committee. These
positions have a term of two years beginning January 1, 2006. For
further details, please see the NV-ASA
constitution.
The
President presides over the Annual meeting, all other meetings of
the Chapter, and meetings of the Executive Committee. The
President also serves as the chair of the Education Committee.
The Northern Vice President serves as co-Chair of the Arrangements
and Program Committees. In the event of the resignation or incapacity
of the President, the Executive Committee will appoint one of the
two Vice Presidents to succeed to the Presidency.
The Secretary keeps the minutes of the Annual Meeting and other
meetings as directed by the President, serves as Chair of the Membership
Committee, and maintains correspondence between the Chapter membership
and the American Statistical Association.
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Nevada
ASA Chapter Awarded 2005 Strategic Initiatives Grant by the National
Organization!!
By Debra Stiver, President
In March of this year, NV-ASA was encouraged to submit a grant proposal
to the national American Statistical Association’s Strategic
Initiative Program. Kudos to former NV-ASA board member, Dr. Chad
Cross, UNLV, for developing plans for a professional mentorship
program in Nevada. His mentorship plans formed the basis of
the grant proposal. The proposal was accepted by the ASA program,
and the Nevada Chapter has received a $5,000 grant to develop the
mentorship program.
The program will be designed to establish a professional mentoring
relationship between statistics students and successful professional
statisticians, or those professionals in a quantitative field with
a major focus and/or interest in statistical science. NV-ASA
believes mentoring relationships will foster interest in the statistical
sciences for students, and will offer an opportunity for professionals
to become more actively involved in facilitating educational opportunities
for tomorrow’s professionals.
The program’s goals and objectives include the following:
• To establish a mentoring relationship
between students in the statistical sciences and professionals in
the field of statistics
• To foster student growth via gaining
first-hand knowledge from established professionals
• To facilitate educational opportunities
for future statisticians
• To allow professionals to become
more actively involved with beginning statisticians by potentially
serving on student theses/dissertation committees
• To increase student awareness
of the variety and scope of career opportunities available to statisticians
• To build bridges between the professional
community and the university
• To increase awareness of the American
Statistical Association, Nevada ASA chapter and its programs.
• To increase membership in Nevada
in both the national ASA and Nevada ASA.
NV-ASA encourages its members to become actively involved in the
mentorship program either by volunteering as a mentor or nominating
student participants. Look for more information on the mentoring
program on the website and in future newsletters as plans develop.
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Northern
and Southern Nevada Career Days
Got Statistics? Here’s
What You Can Do!!!!
By Carol Thompson, Southern
Nevada Vice President
If you like the problem-solving and applied mathematics involved
in statistics, but aren’t sure how that could translate into
a job or career, the Southern NV Career Day on April 16, 2005 was
there to give you some ideas. Dr. Richard Numrich, CCSN professor
and NV-ASA member, moderated the program for 32 attendees at the
Clark County Library on West Flamingo. Five speakers, from different
career fields, discussed their job, how it involved statistics,
some interesting statistical problems they face, and the type of
background required for the job.
Christopher Brogan, VP Market Research, Mandalay Marketing and Events,
discussed some examples of how he uses statistical analysis to better
understand current and potential customer preferences for future
promotions. Dr. Eyal Dubovy, VP Global Decision Management, Citibank,
N.A., and NV-ASA member, mapped out some career paths in the financial
arena. He also described the statistical process of credit
scoring that utilizes data from credit bureaus and credit applications
to predict the probability of an account defaulting on a loan or
credit card. Credit scoring is used to approve/decline credit
requests, and to manage the outstanding credit of existing customers.
Dr. Frank DiPuma, Institutional Research Director, CCSN, described
aspects of using statistics in a government position, and the variety
of stakeholders to which this type of statistician may need to respond.
Dr. Keith Schwer, Director of the Center for Business & Economic
Research, UNLV, discussed several projects managed at the center.
One of the projects is Kids Count, a nationwide annual survey sponsored
by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, for which CBER collects, analyzes,
and distributes the best available data measuring the educational,
social, economic, and physical well-being of
children and youth as the NV segment of this survey. (http://cber.unlv.edu/pub.html).
Dr. Charles Davis, President, Enviro-Stat and NV-ASA member, described
his work with the statistical methodologies for compliance with
environmental regulations that led him into his own environmental
consulting business. Charles gave additional insight into the pros
and cons of working as one’s own boss in a one-person business.
As if pre-planned, but not, each speaker noted that one of the most
important skills for a statistician to develop is the ability to
communicate the statistics to non-statisticians. This means
bringing the results out of the analysis details and statistical
jargon, and into the words, and/or bottom-line, of the client.
A networking lunch fit mid-way among the presentations, handouts
describing various statistical careers were available, and the day
ended with the distribution of door prizes. Of the program’s
attendees, seventeen were NV-ASA members, and 13 were students.
We want to thank Chris Rehac from Einstein’s Bagels for help
with the scrumptious lunch, and all of those who helped set up the
lunch and tables. We also want to thank the following statistical
software companies for providing a variety of door prizes: Minitab,
SAS, S-Plus, and SPSS. David McClellan,
Regional Rep from Minitab, also made a short presentation on some
of the software’s highlights. We also want to thank
UNLV’s Math Department for their donation toward student registrations.
Statistics – Gateway to the
Real World
By Alicia Chancellor Hansen,
Northern Nevada Vice President & Debra Stiver,
President
Everyone who has taken a basic statistics course has learned about
data, statistical software, normality, t-tests and perhaps linear
regression.
Advanced statistics courses teach many other statistical procedures.
Those who have taken statistics courses have pondered the
question, “What do people ‘actually do’ with statistics?”
Questioning those who use statistics in their careers reveals
a wide and fascinating range of answers. On April 22, 2005, the
Nevada Chapter of the American Statistical Association sponsored
“Statistics – Gateway to the Real World.” Forty-six
participants gathered in the Ansari Business building on the University
of Nevada, Reno campus to enjoy insights into the use of statistics
in government, industry, business and academic careers. Thirty-one
of the attendees were students, of which 12 were from a high school
probability and statistics class.
The event kicked off with two keynote addresses. President
Debra Stiver introduced the keynote speakers. Jeff Hardcastle,
the Nevada State
Demographer, spoke about creating population projections for the
state of Nevada. In estimating future population, births,
deaths and migration are considered and projections made for various
demographic groups. This requires collaborative work with the United
States Census Bureau. Other government agencies rely on these projections
to set policy and plan for the future. Statistical techniques such
as linear regression are used to formulate these estimates. Dr.
William Eadington, Director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling
and Commercial Gaming gave a talk entitled “Find The Edge:
How Casinos Use Probability and Statistics to Maximize Profits and
Guarantee Winning.” Dr. Eadington enlightened the audience
on the basics of probability and the odds of various casino games.
His final comments indicated that luck, at least as it applies to
games of chance, is a figment of one’s imagination.
Following the keynote speakers, all attendees enjoyed a light lunch
organized by President Deb Stiver. The Department of Economics
at UNR, under the direction of Chairman Mark Pingle, graciously
sponsored lunch for all participants. After lunch, various panelists
spoke about uses of statistics in their occupations. The first
panel highlighted government and science. Frederick Steinmann,
Special Projects Manager for the Reno Redevelopment Agency revealed
that his strong analytic skills, learned while earning his Master’s
degree in economics at UNR landed him his current job. He
started his career as an intern hired to do field survey work for
the Reno Redevelopment Agency. Following the completion of this
work, he parlayed his knowledge of statistics into a full-time position.
In his work with the City of Reno, Mr. Steinmann investigates
the impact of redevelopment on crime, quality of life and sales
tax revenue for various sectors of the downtown area. He will
soon be pursuing a Ph.D. in Economics at University of Oregon, focusing
on the impact of redevelopment on urban areas. Alejandra Livingston,
an Economist for the State of Nevada Department of Corrections discussed
how she uses statistics to project future inmate populations and
associated costs in the Nevada corrections system. The Nevada
Legislature looks to the Department of Corrections for estimates
of the costs involved in changing laws or instituting new penalties
for violators. Thara Salamone, Oral Health Biostatistician for the
Nevada State Health Division, spoke about traveling throughout the
state of Nevada, looking in people’s mouths. (Yes, looking
in people’s mouths!!) With the help of a dental hygienist,
she is involved in a project to evaluate the oral health of the
population in Nevada. In recent years, evidence has indicated
the existence of strong connections between oral health and occurrence
of disease. Evaluating the current status of oral health in the
state, gives policy makers
information that helps them decide if more oral health programs
are necessary and project what the impact of those programs will
be.
Klaus Moeltner Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Resource
Economics at the University of Nevada, Reno discussed experiences
he has had consulting on a wide range of projects. His examples
included: the impact of day use fees on trail utilization for a
park system, economic impact of power outages and impact of snowmaking
on snow quality, skier visits and pricing structure for Lake Tahoe
resorts. He uses many statistical techniques to answer questions
related to these and other projects.
The second panel focused on private industry. Stacie Suchsland,
a mathematician for International Game Technology, brought in 3
slot reel strips and demonstrated how payoffs and probabilities
are calculated for slot machines. The audience participated in this
lively demonstration, with prizes provided by IGT. In the
gaming industry, slot machines are heavily scrutinized and regulated.
Probabilities of win/loss outcomes must be checked and rechecked.
Ms. Suchsland explained many people fall prey to the “fallacy
of long run averages.” If a slot machine has not paid
off for a while, many hopeful gamblers tend to believe it must be
“due” to provide a winning play. However, audience
members were cautioned that every pull of the slot machine has the
same probabilities of paying. Thus, beware of this common
fallacy and gambler’s trap. Penny Mayer, a real estate broker
and co-owner of Mayer & Associates Real Estate spoke about how
statistics are changing the real estate market. Almost all
decisions regarding mortgage approvals are now based on credit scores.
These are numbers calculated based on information about a
person such as time at previous residences, duration at various
jobs and timing of payments to creditors. Information gathered
over the years has been analyzed to come up with models of customers
who are considered to be good credit risks. This information
is used to calculate credit scores for consumers, which are used
in determining credit worthiness. Mrs. Mayer indicated the
result of this process
could be a double edged sword. If components of your profile
fall outside the acceptable ranges, one may be penalized with higher
interest rates or perhaps be declined for a mortgage. So,
statistics pop up in applications as diverse as gambling and home
financing. All speakers provided numerous and interesting
examples of the depth and variety of statistical uses in a wide
range of careers and fields of study.
The UNR Department of Economics co-sponsored this event along with
the Nevada Chapter of the ASA. SAS, SPSS and Minitab also
graciously provided prizes for the event’s attendees. SAS
donated a copy of SAS Learning Edition and a certificate for any
book in their catalog. The SAS prizes were won by Kelly Wilkin
and Tomoe Yasui. SAS also provided information on their software
and personalized pens for all participants. A full version
of Minitab 14 went to student Kara McNally. Minitab also
provided lanyards and pens to all participants. Economics
graduate student, Toni Sipic, took home a copy of SPSS. The
Department of Economics at UNR rewarded Thara Salamone and Ija Vidaurri
with departmental shirts, while Frederick Steinman proudly donned
an Econ Department Hat. Several bundles of statistics journals
were donated by UCCSN System Computing Services. The journals
were won by Sean Denney, Dan Li, Jarod Collens and Lisa Crosby.
A special thanks goes out to our co-sponsor, the Department of Economics,
University of Nevada, Reno and its chair, Mark Pingle. We
greatly appreciated all the prizes donated by Minitab, SAS &
SPSS. Thanks to the sponsors and donors, this event was a
great success. We couldn’t have done it without you!
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2005
K-12 Statistics Poster Competition Results
By Carol Thompson, Southern
Nevada Vice President and Alicia Chancellor
Hansen, Northern Nevada
Vice President
The Second Annual Nevada K-12 Statistics Poster Competition was
a smashing success. Teachers from Clark, Washoe and several
rural counties, who teach data analysis and statistics, were asked
to engage their students in this learning experience. 331 students
participated, creating 146 posters. Teachers and NV-ASA members
judged the posters against a pre-defined rubric on February 19th
in each of four grade categories: K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. The
winning posters were showcased at the annual meeting of the Nevada
Mathematics Council on February 25, and were submitted to ASA's
national poster competition. Small monetary awards are given to
the students with winning posters, and plaques are given to the
schools of the first place posters. To view the winning posters
please visit the NV-ASA
Website.
We are delighted to announce that the first place K-3 winner, Cookie
Carnival, earned an honorable mention award in the National Poster
Competition for 2005. The NV-ASA would like to thank the following
sponsors of this event: Nevada Mathematics Council, Anteon Corporation,
Debra Stiver and Alicia Chancellor Hansen. Furthermore, several
organizations supported this event, including the NV-ASA, Southern
NV Regional Professional Development Program, University of Nevada,
Las Vegas and University of Nevada, Reno. Special recognition goes
to Maria Dufek and David Thiel, from the Southern Nevada Regional
Professional Development Program, for spearheading and coordinating
the competition. Also, special thanks goes to the teachers
and NV-ASA members who helped judge the competition.
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STAT
CAMP 2005
By David Thiel, Education Committee
Take a group of high school students, mix in a few teachers, add
some pastry and pizza, then roll it up in a college-level final
examination. What do you get?
The answer is STAT CAMP.
On April 23, forty-nine high school statistics students gathered
at Durango HighSchool to take part in STAT CAMP 2005: A Preparation
for the Advanced Placement Statistics Exam. A joint venture
of the Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program,
Clark County School District’s Math/Science Institute, and
NV-ASA, STAT CAMP was started in 2004 as a way to prime students
for the AP Statistics Exam administered by the College Board. Because
of the high-stakes nature of the exam, and the fact that AP Statistics
is sometimes the only AP course taken by students, statistics teachers
saw the need to provide these students with an experience to practice
for the test and reduce anxiety over it.
The STAT CAMP day started low key with a continental breakfast,
but quickly became more intense. Following the juice and pastries,
students from eleven valley high schools took a three-hour examination
that closely mirrored the real test to be taken on May 4. The
test consists of a 90-minute, 40-question multiple-choice section
and a 90-minute, six-question free response section. Before each
section was administered, students were provided with test-taking
strategies by the staff of experienced AP Statistics teachers and
exam readers. A pizza lunch was a nice break before the second half
of the day, the debriefing. Students were given solutions
to the mock exam to compare to their responses. Teachers and statisticians,
including several NV-ASA members, mingled with the students answering
questions, and giving instruction on statistical concepts and procedures.
Between the detailed answer sheets and small-group discussions,
students can smooth out rough spots in their understanding of statistics,
and better know what is expected of exam responses. The mock
exam and its solutions were also provided to area AP Statistics
teachers as a review instrument for those who could not attend.
The feedback from STAT CAMP has been overwhelmingly positive. Many
students expressed their appreciation for the experience and said
that they felt more comfortable about taking the actual exam. Because
of its success, plans are already in the works for STAT CAMP 2006.
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