Applications and Careers In Statistics Purdue University Science 111 Presentation March 21, 2005.
-
Upload
rebecca-adams -
Category
Documents
-
view
213 -
download
0
Transcript of Applications and Careers In Statistics Purdue University Science 111 Presentation March 21, 2005.
Applications and Careers In Statistics
Purdue University
Science 111 Presentation
March 21, 2005
Outline
What is Statistics? What do statisticians do? Statistics in the Community Research at Purdue Our research interests
What is Statistics?
‘The science of collecting, organizing, and interpreting numerical facts’
‘The science of understanding data and making decisions in the face of uncertainty’
‘The art of making numerical conjectures about puzzling questions’
‘The construction of useful information out of data’
Where Can Statisticians Contribute? Business and Industry Health and Medicine Natural Resources and Sciences Education Government, Media, and Law
Business and Industry
Manufacturing Improve product quality Increase efficiency of processes
Marketing Conduct sample surveys Determine product viability
Engineering Make consistent product Predict product life
Computing Software design and development Efficient implementation of complex analytic tools
Health and Medicine
Epidemiology Calculate cancer incidence rates Monitor disease outbreaks
Public Health Design community efforts Education programs
Pharmacology Drug discovery, development, and approval Ensure validity of results in clinical trials
Genetics Identify potential indicators for specific diseases or traits Develop effective plant and animal breeding strategies
Natural Resources and Sciences Agriculture
Study pesticides to maximize crop yield Evaluate differences in crop management
Ecology Study changes in local and global climate Develop strategies to improve the environment
Chemistry Predict shape of large molecules Analysis of mass spectrometry data
Biology Seek to better understand why insects cluster Identify genes related to a particular disease
Education
Develop effective teaching strategies Research appropriate and informative
evaluation (testing) instruments Identify risk factors for bullying, dropping out,
failing Help students acquire quantitative reasoning
skills
Government, Media, and Law
Government Agencies Design and implement effective sampling strategies Estimate the U.S. unemployment rate Track and report changes in the economy Regulations on stock trading, drug approval, pollution
Journalism Effective communication of statistical ideas to a broad
audience Participation in education efforts
Expert Witness Testify in court cases involving DNA evidence, salary
discrepancies, discrimination, and disease clusters
Skills Needed By Statisticians Quantitative Skills
Statistics, Mathematics, Science Problem-Solving Skills
Analysis, Teamwork Communication Skills
Verbal, Written Computer Programming Foundation in Field of Application
What is STATCOM?
A student-run volunteer organization to provide free statistical expertise to the local community
Primarily graduate students in Purdue Department of Statistics
Work with local non-profit and government groups
An opportunity to develop consulting, leadership, teamwork, and communication skills
Statistics in Local Government Sagamore Parkway
Task Force How should
Sagamore Parkway be improved to make it safer and more attractive to residents and new businesses?
West Lafayette Strategic Plan What should the city’s priorities be and where should
it spend taxpayers’ money?
Statistics in the Schools Are state funds allocated
fairly across school districts?
Do schools perform differently on standardized tests, and if so, why?
How can teachers identify students needing extra help?
Statistics in Libraries
What genres are the most popular?
Where should the library spend its money?
Does location within the library affect checkout rates?
Statistics in Community Organizations How effective are a
rehabilitation center’s programs?
Why is there high staff turnover at some organizations?
How can an organization increase the response rate of a survey?
Which community services should be expanded?
Benefits of STATCOM
Provide students with hands-on experience Improve relations between university and
local community Assist local organizations that would not
normally seek statistical consulting services Allow students to give back to the local
community
Statistical Consulting at Purdue: SamplesAdvice on experimental design and analysis for:
Determining the best balance of corn and soy in the diets of lambs in Tunisia to maximize Nitrogen retention and body weight gain
Evaluating the effects of different weed control strategies on the growth of new hardwood forest growth in Alabama
Investigating how cockroaches’ past diets affect what baits they find most appealing
Fields of Statistics Research at Purdue Health and Nutrition Bioinformatics Computational Methods Computational Finance Mathematical Physics Quality Control
Research Example – Microarrays
Study gene expression levels in different conditions (e.g., cancer vs. noncancer)
Labs use this technology to identify genes related to a particular condition
Statistical Issues with Microarrays Accounting for different sources of variability Measuring gene expression levels Combining results from multiple laboratories Massive data sets Multiple testing Visualization techniques Defining significance
Different Results From Multiple Microarray Studies
Need to reconcile differences between labs’ results
Combining Results From Multiple Microarray Studies Meta-analysis
‘The analysis of analyses’ Research synthesis
Accounting for known differences between experiments
Dependence structure Experiments from the same lab, for example
Efficient implementation Analyze all 13,000 genes (mouse data) quickly
Tackling Malnutrition in Young Children Corn is a staple food in
Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Asia
The quality of protein in corn is poor
Malnutrition is a common problem in places where corn is the main source of food
A Genetic Solution to Poor Protein Quality
A Genetic Solution to Poor Protein Quality
How Do You Know It Works?
What kind of experiment would you do?
What would you measure?
Quantifying the Nutritional Benefits Does the body take up the protein? Does it lead to better health and growth in
children? Are families who eat QPM instead of regular
corn better off?
Does the Body Take Up the Protein? Six children in Guatemala fed QPM or milk
(1969) Eight children in Peru fed QPM, regular corn,
or milk protein (1980) Another six children in Peru fed QPM, regular
corn, or milk protein (1989) ...
Does It Lead to Better Health and Growth? Twenty children in Peru fed QPM or milk
formula (1990) 134 children in India (1977), but the study
wasn’t published ...
Are Families Better Off?
Studies have been done in communities and schools in: Mexico Guatemala Brazil Ghana Ethiopia India
Who Needs It Most?
Summary Statistics is a widely-used tool in virtually all fields of
science and technology There are substantial open research questions in
statistics, and there is great room for growth Statistical consulting at Purdue serves both on-
campus researchers and non-profit organizations in the local community
You can develop the necessary skills to become a statistician or to use statistical tools in your field of interest
Thank You!
References: Samuels and Witmer (1999). Statistics for the Life
Sciences. Freedman, Pisani, and Purves (1998). Statistics. Moore and McCabe (1999). Introduction to the
Practice of Statistics. Careers in Statistics: A World of Opportunity.
Presented by the American Statistical Association, available at www.amstat.org/careers/Stat_Careers.ppt
Purdue University Department of Statistics