The Importance of Paying It Forward

By Ron Wasserstein, ASA Executive Director

Each time I attend an ASA meeting, most recently the 2023 Conference on Statistical Practice in San Francisco, I am reminded of the valuable opportunity to network with and learn from colleagues. This is true at every career stage, but especially important for students and early-career statisticians and data scientists. However, attending meetings like CSP can be cost-prohibitive for many, so travel scholarships and awards are essential.

While at CSP, I caught up with Lydia Gibson, who co-chaired the Student and Young Professionals Committee of the ASA’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Outreach Group in 2022. Lydia received the Lingzi Lu Memorial Award, which provided her with the funding needed to attend the conference. She shared with me, “The biggest benefit of attending ASA conferences is the opportunity to network with professionals who are already in the field.”

In fact, she said attending the 2021 Joint Statistical Meetings accelerated her career trajectory because she was able to meet folks in industry who told her about internship and career opportunities. This led to a 2022 internship with Intel and, ultimately, a position as a full-time data scientist.

Lydia’s former Student and Young Professionals Committee co-chair, Robert Tumasian, has also benefited from travel support. He received the Lester R. Curtin Award, which allowed him to attend CSP 2021. And in 2022, thanks to travel support provided by the ASA Student and Early Career Travel Fund, Robert attended JSM.

Robert wrote of that experience in Amstat News: “I was really glad to connect with people in person (including one of my role models, Dionne Price) and absorb lots of information regarding recent innovations in the clinical trial world.”

With the return of in-person meetings, the demand for travel assistance is substantial. The ASA Student and Early Career Travel Fund  provides travel assistance to ASA meetings and is only made possible through donations.

If you would like to help deserving young statisticians and data scientists attend ASA meetings like CSP, the Symposium on Data Science and Statistics, the Joint Statistical Meetings, and the Women in Statistics and Data Science Conference, please consider a donation today. This is a great way to pay it forward to the next generation!

Read about Lydia and Robert’s work with the Student and Young Professionals Committee.