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