Outreach & Initiatives > Educational Ambassador

Past Educational Ambassadors

Who are the educational ambassadors selected so far, and what were their experiences (in their own words)?

2008 - Idir Ouassou, Morocco

The 2008 educational ambassador was Idir Ouassou from Marrakech, Morocco. He teaches at the Universit Cadi Ayyad Ecole Nationale Des Sciences. During JSM 2008 in Denver he attended the course Generalized Linear Mixed Models: Theory and Applications, and the computer technology workshops An Introduction to Stat Studio for SAS/STAT Users, Introduction to Bayesian Analysis Using SAS Software, Nonparametric Regression Modeling in SAS Software, and Structural Analysis of Time Series Using the SAS/ETS UCM Procedure.

2007 - Loan Le, Vietnam

The 2007 educational ambassador was Loan Le, from Ho Chi Minh City. She is the vice director of the Government Statistics Office and chose to attend three classes during JSM 2007 in Salt Lake City, Utah: Latent Class Analysis of Survey Error, Modeling and Data Analysis for Complex Surveys, and Categorical Data Analysis.

"The Educational Ambassador Program is very useful," said Le. "We have calculation knowledge in Vietnam, but what is being taught in these classes is totally new. Learning more about data analysis and survey credibility is useful and necessary for Vietnam."

2006 - Eshetu Wencheko, Ethiopia

The 2006 educational ambassador was Eshetu Wencheko, from Ethiopia. Wencheko, president of Alpha University College in Addis Ababa, took two classes during JSM 2006 in Seattle, Washington: Generalized Linear Mixed Models and Generalized Linear and Latent Mixed Models. He taught a class in generalized linear mixed models to 14 graduate statistics students in Ethiopia.

"In countries like mine," he said, "there exists a big gap in statistics knowledge after one has done the first or second degree and joined the world of work. Cognizant and fully aware of this fact, I believe that bridging this knowledge gap vis-à-vis wider CE and collaboration with ASA would definitely help many of my colleague statisticians in Ethiopia and elsewhere."

2005 - Diana Kelmansky, Argentina

The first educational ambassador was selected in 2005 from Argentina. Diana Kelmansky teaches at the University of Buenos Aires. She selected the Continuing Education course Analysis of Gene Expression Data, presented by Terrence (Terry) Speed et al. at JSM 2005 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The title of her invited presentation in 2006 was Building Statistical Capacity in Developing Countries.

She presented her class to at least 10 participants at the University of Buenos Aires. She repeated the class in Ecuador, Spain, and co-taught the class with Speed in Mexico. After that experience, she wrote the class notes in Spanish and was invited to make presentations at three conferences in Argentina and one in Chile.