People Analytics; Modeling and Simulation; Statistical Education; Data Visualization
I am a People Analytics Consultant at Penn State University and I’ve been teaching both online and resident UP courses for the Department of Statistics since 2014. I love my job and I love teaching – one of my beliefs is that we should never stop learning and I get the opportunity to both teach and learn every day.
I earned a B.S. in Mathematics in 2010 from Rowan University and a M.S. Statistics and Operations Research in 2014 from Penn State University.
Prior to my current position, I worked as an Operations Research Engineer at the Applied Research Lab, and prior to that as a Statistical Consultant for the University Libraries and Dept. of Statistics. I have also done consulting work in market research and risk management firms. I appreciate how statistics is translatable across so many interesting disciplines!
I live in State College with my husband, two amazingly curious kids, and two dogs. In my spare time you’ll find me hosting board game nights, playing soccer and volleyball, and performing on stage with State College Community Theatre!
I was a TA for some online courses as a graduate student and learned a lot of do’s (and don’ts!) with that experience. My first time teaching a class independently was in 2014, but I taught resident courses. That next summer I was invited to teach STAT 200 online, and I have enjoyed helping the course grow ever since.
The reach and diversity! I have had students from all over the world, all walks of life – a mixture of ages, experiences, interests – and it’s been wonderful helping all these individuals achieve their dreams. There is, of course, the flexibility as well – I have been known to teach on the beach!
Keeping the human element as much as possible!
In introductions students often talk about their interests. I incorporate them into examples and labs whenever I can. In email and discussion boards, I try to make personal connections by making jokes, having compassion for student challenges, talking about their interests. Each week I post a unique discussion topic that connects the lesson to recent news or interesting examples. I give praise a lot and reach out to individual students when I’ve noticed that they are missing assignments or if performance is slipping.
I think it’s the little things that make an impact.
The obvious, of course, is time management – make yourself a schedule, stick to it, and reach out for help if you fall behind. Don’t “binge”.
My better advice, though, applies to all classes: Define “success” not as getting an A, but as understanding, evaluating, applying and synthesizing. Memorizing formulas and procedures is not understanding – it can get you to a certain point, and it may even get you an A in the class, but you’d be doing yourself a disservice by measuring your success by grades alone.