The highlighted article for this issue is by John Eltinge from the US Census Bureau. Eltinge gave the Deming Lecture, titled “Improving the Quality and Value of Statistical Information: 14 Questions on Management,” at the 2018 Joint Statistical Meetings. In his article, he revisits Deming’s framework on management and poses questions to show its relevance to modern statistical organizations and data producers.
Also included in this issue is a contribution from Robert Lund, who participated in the 2022 IDEA Forum. Lund and his co-author, Xueheng Shi, discuss changepoint approaches used in climatology. Their article describes innovative methods for detecting them and analyzing relevant data. The authors issue a call to action for statisticians to get involved in addressing problems in climatology.
Robert A. Tumasian III, who later this spring will earn his PhD, explores justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion principles in his article, “Toward Enhancing Clinical Trial Diversity.” Tumasian combines his commitment to JEDI with his professional interest in clinical trials. Like Lund and Shi, he also offers a call for action and provides ways to do so.
In the Book Review section, Christian Robert reviews three books: Casanova’s Lottery by Stephen Stigler; Bayes Factors for Forensic Decision Analyses with R by Silvia Bozza, Franco Taroni, and Alex Biedermann; and Bayesian Probability for Babies by Chris Ferrie and Sarah Kaiser.
Howard Wainer also has a book review in his column, Visual Revelations. This is the first in a series of book reviews focusing on a historical figure in data and information visualization. He begins with Florence Nightingale.
For readers interested in education, Amanda Ellis describes how educators can help students connect the material they learn in their coursework with skills they need to be successful in the workforce in the Teaching Statistics in the Health Sciences column.
CHANCE editors Wendy Martinez and Donna LaLonde promised to introduce new columns, and two of them are in this issue. One is the History Chronicles column with co-editors Penny Reynolds and Chaitra Nagaraja, and the second is One Thing About … by ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein. The column editors share their goals for the columns and how readers can contribute.
Finally, Martinez and LaLonde want to provide a way to celebrate colleagues and their impact on the profession by including articles with remembrances from family, friends, and colleagues. The first of these articles appears in this issue with the celebration of Ed Nevius’s life. A remembrance of Jerome Sacks will appear in the next issue.
To suggest article topics, email the editors. Visit the magazine’s website for more articles.
Generative Art Contest
Pixel by Pixel: The Art of CHANCE
Channel your inner artist and create an image that involves some aspect of randomness.
The editors of CHANCE magazine are accepting entries of generative art that involves randomness. To enter, provide the image you have created, your code, and any other information (e.g., seed for random generator used) the judges would need to reproduce your image.
Each submission should include a short descriptive essay of the creative process, including which artist served as the inspiration and motivation for the tools used. All submissions must be original art and not created by an AI application.
Judging criteria include the following:
- Level of creativity and originality
- Quality of artistic composition and overall design (color, tone, patterns, shapes, balance)
- Demonstrated computational and artistic skill
- Interpretation of chosen artist’s style, based on artwork and essay
*Extra points will be given for writing original code (C++, R, Python, Julia) to generate the artwork.
Awards will be given in the middle- and high-school student, undergraduate student, graduate student, and professional categories.
Get the details and submit your entry by August 31.