ASA President's Address & Awards

What draws us to the practice and profession of statistics and data science are the interesting problems we want to help solve and the impact we hope to make. In this talk, I will share my own path into the profession which shaped my commitment to strengthening our professional community, and how that personal motivation connects to the broader work we're undertaking together. I will discuss the Communities in Action initiative, exploring both the vision behind it and the practical realities of turning ideas into action. Along the way, I will reflect on recent ASA successes that demonstrate what's possible when our community aligns around shared goals and candidly addresses the challenges that remind us why this work matters and why it's hard. This is an invitation to see your own purpose reflected in our collective direction as we work together to shape a world that relies on data and statistical thinking to drive discovery and inform decisions.