In 2024, CANSSI and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) agreed to work together on a mentoring program for statisticians. The first jointly organized event was a lunchtime session on Navigating Different Stages of a Successful Career in Academia, Industry, and Beyond at the Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM 2024) in Portland, Oregon, on August 5, 2024.
The event, which drew close to two dozen statisticians, began with a moderated discussion featuring panellists from various career paths and career stages. They shared their experiences and responded to a number of audience questions, including
- How did you decide what setting (academia, industry, beyond) you wanted to work in?”
- “How have your responsibilities and how you spend your time changed throughout your career?”
- “When new opportunities present themselves, how do you decide what to say yes to?”
- “How do you find work/life balance?”
- “What skill sets are important to possess in order to navigate promotion and being successful in one’s career more generally?”
A follow-up segment in which the seven panellists (John Eltinge (U.S. Census Bureau), Ilya Hekimi (Statistics Canada), Saman Muthukumarana (University of Manitoba), Bouchra Nasri (Université de Montréal), Layla Parast (University of Texas, Austin), Jose Pinheiro (Johnson & Johnson), and Bin Yu (University of California, Berkeley)) led small-group dialogues allowed for “more in-depth and targeted discussion” and led to “lively conversations happening across the room” according to Shili Lin (Ohio State University), chair of the CANSSI-IMS Mentoring and Engagement Program (CIMEP) working group that organized the event.
The response to this inaugural event has encouraged the CIMEP working group, which consists of CANSSI Deputy Director Andrea Benedetti (McGill University), Jessica Gronsbell (University of Toronto), Nicole Pashley (Rutgers University), and Ali Shojaie (University of Washington) in addition to Shili Lin, to plan additional events aimed at helping statisticians succeed in their careers.
Read a report about the JSM event on the IMS website.
